Malnutrition & Hygiene
Malnutrition, especially in developing countries, is a major health concern. Water, sanitation, and hygiene are critical for the prevention of malnutrition, given their direct effect on infectious diseases, especially diarrhea. Poverty is related to both malnutrition and insufficient water supply and sanitation.
People are malnourished if they are unable to properly use the food they eat, if they ingest too many calories (over nutrition), or if their diet does not have enough calories and protein for development and maintenance (under nutrition or protein-energy malnutrition).
The risk of sickness and early death is raised by malnutrition in all its types. For example, protein-energy malnutrition plays a major role in half of all under five deaths in developed countries each year. Marasmus (chronic waste of blood, muscle, and other tissues); cretinism and permanent neurological harm due to iodine deficiency; and blindness and elevated risk of illness and mortality from vitamin A deficiency are extreme types of malnutrition.
The leading cause of death in children under the age of five is diarrhea. When kids suffer from diarrhea on a daily basis, they are often more likely to be malnourished as a result. Diarrhea can cause irreversible damage to intestinal growth in children, especially those under six months of age, decreasing the ability of a child to consume nutrients.
Research shows that hand washing with soap can reduce the occurrence of diarrhea by 42% to 47% and is quick, reliable, and cost-effective. Reductions in diarrhea disease will reduce at least 860,000 infant deaths each year due to under nutrition by drinking, sanitation, and hygiene measures (WHO, 2008). Sanitation changes, especially in the removal of open defecation, are correlated with a 4–37% reduction in stunting in rural settings and a 20–46% reduction in urban settings. (2013 Cochran Review). Parasitic infections caused by poor hygiene and sanitation can lead to anemia and have an effect on normal growth and cognitive growth.
The nutritional status of one depends on the relationship between the food being consumed, the general state of health, and the physical environment. Malnutrition, often rooted in hunger, is both a physiological and a social condition. Malnutrition, combined with hunger, leads to a downward spiral that is fueled by an increased burden of sickness, stunted growth, and diminished ability to function.
By avoiding diarrhea and parasitic diseases and harming intestinal growth, good hygiene and healthy drinking water can minimize under nutrition and stunting in children. About 50 percent of all malnutrition is linked with repeated diarrhea or intestinal worm infections as a direct consequence of insufficient drinking, sanitation, and hygiene, according to the World Health Organisation.
Weak water and sanitation are essential considerations in this respect, but at times, improvements do not favor the whole population, such as when only the rich can afford improved sources of drinking water or where irrigation is used to grow export crops. Civil conflicts and wars lead to intensified malnutrition by disruption to water resources and pollution of supplies.
Due to unhealthy and unreliable water sources and poor sanitation, health status is impaired where people are vulnerable to high levels of infection. Individuals suffering from diarrhea would not profit entirely from food in secondary malnutrition because daily stools impede sufficient nutrient absorption. In addition, people currently suffering protein-energy malnutrition are more vulnerable to infectious diseases and less likely to heal from them.
