Malnutrition: a water-related disease - SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL

Breakdown – Even now, in the twenty-first century, under-nutrition remains a scourge in many countries. Each year, it is responsible for the death of 3.1 million children under the age of 5, or about 35% of the cases of infant mortality. It seriously affects the physical and mental development of millions of other children (1).

By Erwann Lacoste, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WaSH) Advisor at SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL

Although under-nutrition cannot be considered a waterborne disease in the strictest sense of the term, it is estimated to be linked to 50% of cases of diarrhoea or other intestinal infections, which themselves are largely caused by the consumption of unsafe water, the absence of hygienic toilets and by inadequate hygiene practices (particularly when hands are not washed with soap).

The lack of access to water, hygiene and sanitation (WaSH) in thus undeniably one of the underlying causes of malnutrition, as has been shown in countless scientific studies (2).

The Sahel – The “WaSH in Nut” strategy

In Mali, in the regions surrounding Kolokani, Dire and Kidal, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL has implemented 3 WaSH programmes under the banner of the “WaSH in Nut” strategy. Since 2012, this strategy has aimed to systematically include WaSH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in programmes designed to fight malnutrition. Previously the fight against malnutrition was often limited to a medical response, whereby children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were treated in the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRC).
These programmes aim to equip NRCs, hospitals and health centres with sanitation infrastructures -drinking water points, latrines, showers, and waste incinerators – while training the medical staff to maintain them. They also provide malnourished children and their families with a hygiene kit (including containers for the hygienic storage of water, soap, and chlorine tablets), allowing them to follow up on the treatment at home, thereby limiting the risk of relapse.
Finally, these WaSH programmes facilitate the improvement of access to clean drinking water in regions with a high incidence of SAM through community infrastructures (wells, boreholes, and water mains), domestic sanitation (toilets) and hygiene promotion campaigns.

(1) WHO report from 2014 based on data from 2012 (malnutrition fatality rates) / Impact of chronic and severe malnutrition: The Lancet, Maternal and Child nutrition, June 2013).
(2) WaSH and Nutrition studies: http://washnutrition.wordpress.com