SEATTLE– WaterAid newly released Caught Short Report shows that the absence of clean water along with the lack of toilets plays a crucial role the global stunting crisis among children. The report describes that the lack of sanitation increases the risk of malnutrition among children. And, consequently impacts their normal growth and development. Additionally, the report lists countries most affected by the stunting phenomena.
Stunted children have lower weight for their age due to malnutrition factors, but not necessarily due to absence of food. The stunting phenomenon influences children’s both physical and cognitive development with lower than average height and cognitive abilities. Malnutrition is related to the absence of food and the inability of the human body to absorb it. However, apart from food, dirty water and poor sanitation are linked to stunting.
Polluted water and poor sanitation can result in serious conditions such as diarrhea that can be deadly for children. It is the second most serious condition after pneumonia, which may lead to more than 315,000 children deaths. Globally, children suffer from malnutrition mainly in the first two years of their life. 159 million children under the age of 5 are affected by the stunting crisis.
According to WaterAid, national nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) should be a priority to eradicate this phenomena. However, 650 million do not have access to clean water and 2.3 billion children lack access to clean and descent toilets, which makes them more vulnerable to diseases.
Additionally, studies have shown that undernutrition is highly related to diarrhea-causing worms. The 88 percent of diarrhea cases resulted from the lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Moreover, children who experience diarrhea five or more times under the age of 2, have an increased chance of future stunting problem.
Findings show that in Uganda, 21 percent of people do not have access to water and 80 percent do not even have access to toilets. In Uganda, where half of the population consists of children, efforts have been made in order to increase individual income by 2025. In this way, productivity of women can increase and health costs regarding stunting problems can decrease.
In India, at least 76 million people do not have access to safe water and 774 million people live without proper sanitation facilities. Due to the stunting crisis, 140,000 children die from diarrhea. According to Megan Wilson-Jones, WaterAid hygiene correspondent, claims that India is mostly affected by “open defecation”, a situation that intensifies diseases.
The report reveals that countries most affected by the stunting problem are Timor-Leste, which counts 58 percent of stunted children. It is then followed by India with 48 million stunted children. Furthermore, Nigeria and Pakistan are also severely affected with 10.3 and 9.8 million reported cases. However, the good news is that India has reduced this number from 48 percent in 2006 to 34 percent in 2014.
WaterAid urges the governments of the world together with the ministers of Health, Water, Sanitation and Education to co-operate in an effort to improve nutrition, address sanitation problem and provide safe water drinking and hygiene recourses in order to prevent stunting in children.
Even though there have been agreements regarding the Sustainable Development Goals by world leaders to stop malnutrition by 2030, the issue has received little attention and therefore there must be a global action by everyone in order to set children as a priority, reduce poverty, create a better environment for all children and form a sustainable world.
– Eliza Karampetian-Nikotian
Photo: Flickr