Sanitation’s Silent Impact: A Missing Puzzle Piece in Child Nutrition and Growth

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_65How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Sanitation; Nutrition; Child Growth; Diarrheal Diseases; Stunting; HAZ; WAZ

Abstract

Sanitation plays a vital role in children’s nutrition and growth by preventing infections that impair nutrient absorption. Improving sanitation infrastructure, including clean water access and proper waste disposal, reduces disease incidence and enhances children’s health. Integrating sanitation into nutrition interventions is crucial for combating malnutrition and promoting healthier generations. While nutritional interventions have been widely studied, the role of hygiene in child development is often overlooked. This research addresses this gap by exploring how improved sanitation and hygiene practices affect nutritional outcomes and growth metrics, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative component includes a systematic review and statistical analysis of existing studies on WASH interventions and their impact on child growth, using indicators such as height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ). The analysis indicates that WASH interventions, especially those focusing on hygiene, significantly improve children’s growth outcomes. The study presents data on height, weight, and z-scores for various age groups, showing negative HAZ and WAZ values in some groups, suggesting potential growth issues. Qualitative results reveal that better hygiene reduces diarrheal diseases, improving nutrient absorption and overall health. This study highlights the importance of hygiene in improving children’s nutrition and growth. Combining nutritional interventions with strict hygiene practices is more effective. The research supports integrated WASH and nutrition programs, urging policymakers to prioritize sanitation improvements alongside nutritional efforts. Future research should explore long-term sanitation impacts on child development.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Swarnali Bhattacharjee
AU  - Mohammad Ismail Hossain
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/18
TI  - Sanitation’s Silent Impact: A Missing Puzzle Piece in Child Nutrition and Growth
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Engineering Research, Innovation, and Education 2025 (ICERIE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 544
EP  - 549
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_65
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_65
ID  - Bhattacharjee2025
ER  -