Clean water and sanitation would not only have an impact on hygiene, but also on children’s growth under the age of five. After looking at data from 14 studies, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the WaterAid charity observed an increase in the height of children using clean sanitary facilities of about 0.5 cm. .
The data was collected from approximately 10,000 children in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chile, Guatemala, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya and Cambodia. Stunting (an indicator of chronic undernutrition) hinders the development of 171 million children under 5, says the World Health Organization website.
Reduce the number of deaths
According to Dr. Alan Dangour, the LSHTM nutritionist who led the report, access to clean water, clean toilets and good overall hygiene are some of the effective ways to reduce deaths from symptoms such as diarrhea. “This is the first time that we have official proof that clean water has a big impact on the growth of children,” he told British channel BBC News.
The doctor explains that there is “an absolutely logical link between dirty water, diarrhea and growing children, but it is interesting that this link has never been proven before. Half a centimeter does not appear. not much, but we estimate that this increase equates to a reduction in stunting of about 15%, which is very significant. “
