The lives of millions of children could be saved by a coordinated global effort to improve nutrition and provide clean water, better sanitation and cleaner household fuels in developing countries, a new study [1] finds. Achieving the environmental and nutritional Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will therefore contribute significantly to achieving the MDG for child mortality. The reduction in childhood mortality can be maximised if the integrated management of the interventions prioritises the poor.

Fifty per cent coverage of environmental and nutritional interventions, as envisioned by the MDGs, would reduce annual child mortality by 26,900 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 510,000 in South Asia, and 1.02 million in sub-Saharan Africa, if the interventions are implemented among the poor first. These reductions are 30 per cent to 75 per cent larger than those expected if the same 50 per cent coverage first reached the wealthier households, who nonetheless are in need of similar interventions, the study adds.

Although the study does not include an estimate of the cost of eliminating such risks, it does imply that getting better results from any money being spent now would be achieved through improved cooperation and coordination.

[1] Gakidou, E. … [et al.] (2007). Improving child survival through environmental and nutritional interventions : the importance of targeting interventions toward the poor. Journal of the American Medical Association ; vol. 298, no. 16 ; p. 1876-1887. Full text

For more on the role of water and sanitation in achieving the MDGs see the WELL Briefing Notes 1-6

For more on health impacts see:
Fewtrell, L. … [et al.] (2007). Water, sanitation and hygiene : quantifying the health impact at national and local levels in countries with incomplete water supply and sanitation coverage. (WHO environmental burden of disease series ; no. 15). Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization. PDF file

Contact: Dr. Majid Ezzati, Harvard School of Public Health, USA, majid_ezzati@harvard.edu

Source: Ed Edelson, Washington Post, 22 Oct 2007

Tags: policies & legislation, water-related diseases