Innovations in Toilet Hygiene: A Comprehensive Review of Technologies and Strategies for Western and Indian Sanitation Systems

The chronic problem of inadequate toilet hygiene is still eating up the global health care and this has been a major contribution to the diarrheal disease on top of the progress seen under the international sanitation programs. The current and emerging technologies discussed in this review aim at enhancing hygienic results both with western seated toilets and Indian squats, and provide a combined picture of material, technological, structural, natural, behavioral and maintenance based solutions. The systematic review of articles published in 2000-2024 reveals 70 innovations that can significantly decrease the quantity of pathogen loads, increase user adherence, and improve the efficiency of sanitation in general. Antimicrobial materials, touchless, UV-C disinfection, and IoT-enabled tracking are highly effective, and the culturally adapted squat-pan designs, as well as sustainable water management solutions, deal with the challenges unique to low- and middle-income areas. It has been shown that multi-domain strategies are better than single interventions, and real-world implementations have been able to achieve fast contamination reduction and maintenance responsiveness. The review highlights a staged context-sensitive adoption journey which gives priority to cost-effective behavioral nudges, permanent antimicrobial surfaces, automated sensing solutions and sustainable water technologies. Together, these results point to a historic opportunity to modernize the sanitation system and fasten the development of universalizing the hygienic, dignified, and sustainable toilet system.