Link between sanitation, stunting questioned

Link between sanitation, stunting questioned

Context

Relation between stunting and sanitation

What is stunting?

• Stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation
• Children are defined as stunted if their height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median

(source: WHO)

Research findings were published in The Lancet Global Health on January 29

• Stunting among children, or low height for age, is common in developing countries with poor sanitation.
• Scientists hypothesise that this is because open defecation and unclean water expose children to faecal bugs.
• Even if these pathogens do not cause diarrhoea, they inflame a child’s gut and hamper the food absorption

Recent studies show different results

Where: Bangladesh and Kenya

Findings: The studies, which targeted over 13,000 families, showed that water purification, sanitary latrines and hand-washing (WASH) interventions in select households were not enough to prevent stunting in those households.

Then what do the findings of The Lancet Global Health mean?

• First, WASH interventions may need to be very widespread to make a difference
• Second, factors other than WASH may be critical to stunting

Role of WASH might be declining

Earlier when the water was contaminated WASH might have played a major role but today when people are less exposed to pathogens, the role of WASH in stunting may be declining.

But exposure could occur from other sources too (besides unclean water and OD)

• Children also come in contact with the outside environment and animal faeces
• Plus, while chlorine is a good disinfectant, it may not work against protozoa like Giardia lamblia.