The ‘Recipe for Success’ report argues that the world’s malnutrition crisis cannot be solved with food alone, because half of all undernutrition cases are linked to infections caused by a lack of access to clean water, adequate sanitation and good hygiene.
It includes a ’recipe’ – or toolkit - to help national governments, nutrition and WASH policymakers, practitioners and donors to cross-integrate WASH and nutrition into action plans and programs.
The report investigated how well countries are doing at integrating WASH and nutrition policies, and found that while Cambodia and Niger are leading the way in using water and sanitation to improve the health and nutrition of their citizens – many other countries across Asia and Africa still have a long way to go.
Globally 155 million children under the age of five are stunted – leaving them with often irreversible cognitive, emotional and physical damage, as a result of undernutrition in their first 1,000 days, from conception to two years old. Estimates suggest that poor sanitation is the second leading cause of stunting worldwide. Research published in the Lancet also says that traditional interventions like nutrient supplements can only reduce stunting by a fifth at most, even if 90% of the population in need are reached.
A third of the world’s population (2.3 billion) live without access to decent sanitation and 844 million are without access to clean water.
Megan Wilson-Jones, WaterAid’s policy analyst on health and hygiene, and one of the report’s authors said:
“At current rates of progress, and with one in four children still suffering from stunted growth, the world will not meet the sustainable development goal target to end malnutrition by 2030.”
“The truth is that food alone will never be enough to tackle the problem, we have to target its underlying causes too. Clean water, adequate sanitation and good hygiene are also vital ingredients for good health.”
“We are calling on everyone working to end malnutrition – from Governments to policymakers, practitioners to donors -- to integrate water, sanitation and hygiene into nutritional policies and plans without delay.”
“And we encourage all those who strive, like us, to bring water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone, everywhere to ensure their work is maximising its impact on nutrition - so we can reach those people and areas that need our help the most”
The ‘‘recipe’ for tackling malnutrition advises governments and donors to:
-Integrate WASH and nutrition action plans
-Strengthen coordination between ministries, led from the top by Presidents/Prime Ministers
-Increase funding for nutrition-sensitive WASH
-Prioritize babies and mothers
-Target the same geographical areas with WASH and nutrition actions – those with high rates of undernutrition and low access to WASH
-Jointly promote good food and hand hygiene behaviors
-Ensure all health centers and schools have the water, sanitation and hygiene facilities they need to deliver nutrition and health services, and educate frontline health workers, teachers and caregivers in the intersection between health, nutrition, education and WASH
-Use human rights principles like freedom of information, non-discrimination and the prioritization of the world’s most vulnerable to guide effective action.
