BACKGROUND: Hitherito, majority of health problems are related to the poor sanitary conditions prevailing in the premises of households major parts of which are in the rural areas in India. RESEARCH QUESTION: what is the sanitary condition and its impact on the health of weaker sections of the society living in rural area of the Krishna District? OBJECTIVES: 1. To know the sanitary condition prevailing in weaker sections of the society in rural area of Krishna Distrct. 2. To identify the impact of poor sanitation on the health of the study group. STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Rural area of Krishna District, Andhara Pradesh. PARTICIPANTS: People belong to BPL (Below Poverty Line) residing in rural area of Krishna district. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Proportions, percentages and chi-square test. RESULTS: In this study group access to safe water source was observed to be 86.18% and access to improved sanitation is 27.21%. About 50% of the study people are practicing open field defection; about 37% of households treat the water at domestic level. Our study findings related to hand washing practices with reference to after defection, before eating and before preparing food are 43%, 41% and 28% respectively. The current study has relived overcrowding (69%), lack of adequacy of ventilation(73%), lake of adequacy of lightening (75.45%) lack of adequacy of water supply(57.58%), absence of separate kitchen(86%), no sewage drains (47%). In this study about 54% adults and 57% of children are found to be suffering from malnutrition, 25% have history of diarrhoea, 46.21% fever and 31.82% passing worms in stools. And significantly 46.97% of study subjects suffering from Anaemia.

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