The Impact of Poor Sanitation on Nutrition, 2015. SHARE; UNICEF.
With 165 million children suffering from chronic undernutrition (being stunted) and 52 million suffering from acute malnutrition (being wasted) (UNICEF et al., 2012), more concerted and cross-sectoral action is needed. Improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the context of nutrition programming offers one important opportunity to do this.
A recent systematic review of 14 studies on WASH interventions in ten low and middle income countries, for example, found suggestive evidence that WASH interventions positively affect height-for-age scores in children under five years of age (Dangour et al., 2013).
This paper summarises the evidence for the impact of poor sanitation on nutritional outcomes and highlights the potential offered by greater integration of WASH within nutrition policy and programmes.
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