Title: Water and sanitation: health and nutrition benefits to children.

POPLINE Document Number: 116488

Author(s):

Burger SE
Esrey SA

Source citation:

In: Child growth and nutrition in developing countries: priorities for action, edited by Per Pinstrup-Andersen, David Pelletier, Harold Alderman. Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press, 1995. :153-75.

Abstract:

This document is the ninth chapter in a book that identifies priorities for action to enhance child growth and nutrition in developing countries. This chapter concentrates on poor sanitation and contaminated water as causes of infectious disease. The first part of the chapter examines evidence that improved water and sanitation reduce exposure to pathogens and disease. In these studies, the presence of a flush toilet was associated with bottle-fed infants being less likely to die and with significantly higher height-for-age among low-income preschoolers. Child growth was enhanced in households with both a latrine and increased water usage. Similarly, the presence of piped water reduced mortality among bottle-fed infants and among low-income preschool children in general. Data from different parts of the world show a greater effect of sanitation and water supply improvements on children of less-educated mothers and, in contrast, of better-educated mothers. Water quantity may be more important than quality in reducing exposure to pathogens in contaminated environments. The second part of the chapter considers how improved water supplies save women time formerly spent collecting water and lead to improvements in child health because more time may be spent on child care, on learning, and on income generation. It is concluded that water and sanitation improvements improve child health and nutrition and that water and sanitation interventions can complement other interventions or compensate for undesirable conditions. The design of such interventions would benefit from research into 1) the conditions in which such improvements could be maximized, 2) direct measurements of the mechanisms in which increases in water quantity, quality, and maternal time reduce pathogen transmission, 3) the use of time saved, 4) the interaction between disease transmission and behavior, and 5) the relationship between improved water and sanitation and acceptance of other interventions.

Keywords:

Developing Countries
Literature Review
Recommendations
Sanitation
Hygiene
Water Supply
Child Health
Child Nutrition
Time Factors
Health Education
Public Health
Health
Natural Resources
Environment
Nutrition
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population
Education