Cookie tracking notice
Are we allowed to crumble with cookies and anonymous tracking?

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site (so called session cookies), while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). We use the application Matomo and the external service etracker to analyze your behavior on our website anonymously. Because we value your privacy, we are here with asking your permission to use the following technologies. You can change your settings any time via this link or the menu item in footer menu. For more information visit our Data Policy

Top reads  

Looking for the main key documents of this topic? Find the Top-5 compiled for you in these discussion forum posts:

Join »

Register as a SuSanA member to join this working group and its mailing list.

WASH and nutrition

Working Group 12

© CARE Ethiopia

Raise awareness for the links and opportunities for integration between WASH and Nutrition (including health and other relevant sectors) by providing space for practitioners to discuss experiences, best practices, research, challenges and gaps.


Background

Lack of improved water sources, poor sanitation and hygiene expose billions of people, particularly children and the vulnerable, to a wide range of preventable diseases and are major contributors to the world’s morbidity and mortality. According to UNICEF and WHO a staggering 2.3 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation and 844 million people lack basic access to drinking water (WHO & UNICEF, 2017).

As a result of this situation, around 4 million people die from waterborne diseases every year. 2.2 million of these deaths are due to diarrhoea and 1.2 million of those are children under five. Malnutrition is the root cause of about 35% of all under-5 child deaths globally. It is estimated that 50% of these cases are associated with diarrhoea or with repeated intestinal worm infections caused by unsafe drinking water and/or poor sanitation and hygiene (WHO, 2008; Cochrane, 2008).

read more …

Diarrhoea is an aggravating factor in malnutrition, as it reduces the body’s capacity to absorb nutrients (leaky bucket syndrome). In addition, malnourished children are more likely to contract diarrhoea, as their systems are already weak, and the effect is cumulative.

The likelihood of mortality from diarrhoea when a child is severely underweight is almost 10 times higher than average (Black et al, 2008).  The vicious circle created has a strong negative impact on child growth and development.

In the past years attention has focused a lot on diarrhea, as this is dramatic, measurable and episodic (Chambers, 2010).  However, other faecally-related infections are often neglected and are very widespread such as Ascaris (1.5 billion), hookworm (740 million), Schistosomiasis (200 million) and liverfluke (40 – 70 million).  These are often subclinical and less visible, less measurable, not episodic but continuously debilitating, and less treated.

Intestinal nematode infections like Ascaris and hookworm infections claim nutrients for themselves so that they are not available to be taken up by the human body. This issue has an impact on the long-term and causes chronic malnutrition. In addition, faecal bacteria ingested in large quantities by young children living in unhygienic conditions can lead to permanent gut damage which leads to nutrient malabsorption and consequently to undernutrition and stunting – a phenomenon known as environmental enteropathy (Humphrey, 2009).

The SuSanA Working Group on WASH and Nutrition will therefore also consider the impact that faecally-related infections other than diarrhea can have on the nutritional status of children and other vulnerable groups.

In the last few years a significant body of evidence suggests that poor WASH services also plays a considerable role in the increasing risk of sever acute malnutrition and stunting particularly among children. In the specific case of sever acute malnutrition an NGO examined the relationship between adequacy of water supply and children’s length of stay in a therapeutic feeding program in Niger. This study suggests that therapeutic feeding programs need to assure a good wash environment, in the target children’s villages, if they are to provide optimal care.

Consequently, this study highlights the causal link between WASH and Nutrition. The provision of safe water and sanitation coupled with improvements in hygiene (WASH) can hence contribute significantly to this nutritional challenge and to health improvements. Assuring access to safe water and sanitation and to good hygiene practices (e.g. handwashing) should thus be a key integrated element in all humanitarian responses to a nutritional crisis.

Objectives

Raise awareness for the links and opportunities for integration between WASH and Nutrition (including health and other relevant sectors) by providing space for practitioners to discuss experiences, best practices, research, challenges and gaps.

Activities

  • Exchange on latest projects, research, guidance, policies, tools and events relevant to WASH and Nutrition and foster networking and collaboration among members to ensure capacity building on WASH & Nutrition integration.
  • Develop a fact sheet (and keep up to date) on the link between WASH and Nutrition to be used by practitioners and policy makers.

show less …

Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG baselines. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

  

FEATURED ARTICLE:

WASH and nutrition: trials and tribulations?

How should we interpret the latest research findings on undernutrition and the role of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)? WaterAid UK’s Megan Wilson-Jones (Policy Analyst – Health and Hygiene), Om Prasad Gautam (Senior WASH Manager – Hygiene) and Kyla Smith (Research Manager) share their reflections.

Working Group 12 meets in Stockholm @ World Water Week 2019

By Jona (17.10.2019) , further replies by: Gianluca, JovanaD
(total 4 replies)

New (Co-)Leads for Working Group 12

By AhadWG12 (11.08.2019)

New WASH'Nutrition practical guidebook (Action Contre la Faim)

By muench (21.08.2017) , further replies by: jpeeters,
(total 2 replies)

Working Group 12 meets in Stockholm @ World Water Week 2017

By Jona (06.09.2017) , further replies by: Jona, Jona
(total 8 replies)

Pizzacalla, K. & Nantume, G. (2020)
Sanitation For Millions - WinS Models that Work


ACF, IFRC, UNICEF, French Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, TdH, WHH, WaterAid, Concern Worldwide. (2019)
WASH and Nutrition e-learning course


Durrans, S., Jones, D., Pando, N.U., Wilson-Jones, M. (2017)
The recipe for success

 

Share this page on    


Follow us on    

SuSanA Partners  currently 400 partners

Show all partners »

Networks Circle

 

Latest SuSanA Blog Articles

SuSanA Blog »

SuSanA newsletter

Stay informed about the activities of SuSanA and its partners. The SuSanA newsletter is sent out around four times per year. It contains information about news, events, new partners, projects, discussions and publications of the SuSanA network.

Subscribe to newsletter »

 


close  

 

Resources and publications

Our library has more than 3,000 publications, factsheets, presentations, drawings etc. from many different organisations. It continues to grow thanks to the contributions from our partners.

Add item to library »

The three links below take you to special groups of items in the library for more convenient access:

Projects

The project database contains nearly 400 sanitation projects of many different organizations dealing with research, implementation, advocacy, capacity development etc. Advanced filtering functions and a global map are also available. Information on how and why this database was created is here.

People working for SuSanA partners can add their own projects through their partner profile page. You might need your SuSanA login upgraded for this purpose. Please contact us if you would like to add a project.


Trainings, conference and events materials

Missed important conferences or courses? Catch up by using their materials for self study. These materials have been kindly provided by SuSanA partners.

Shit flow diagrams, excreta flow diagrams (293 SFDs worldwide)

Shit flow diagrams (SFDs) help to visualize excreta management in urban settings. Access SFDs and more through the SFD Portal.

Emersan eCompendium

Humanitarian Sanitation Hub

Sanitation Workers Knowledge and Learning Hub

 


close  

 

Discussion forum

Share knowledge, exchange experiences, discuss challenges, make announcements, ask questions and more. Hint: Your discussion forum login is the same as your SuSanA login. More about the forum's philosophy »


Integrated content

We are hosting content from some other communities of practice and information-sharing portals. This section also provides a link to SuSanA's Sanitation Wikipedia initiative.

Suggest content to add »

SuSanA partners

Not yet a SuSanA partner? Show your organisation's support to SuSanA's vision and engage in  knowledge sharing by becoming partners.

Apply to become a partner »


Individual membership

Register as an individual member of SuSanA free of charge. As a member you can interact with thousands of sanitation enthusiasts on the discussion forum.  You can also get engaged in one of our 13 working groups and our regional chapters. Our FAQs explain the benefits further.

By getting a SuSanA login you can fully participate in the SuSanA community!

Register as a member

Login


Forgot your password?
Forgot your username?

 


close