Clean water
and soap imperative for child`s healthy growth
Washington:
Improving water quality and hygiene practices helps improve the growth of
children, a new study suggests.
The
Cochrane review - authored by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and WaterAid - found evidence of small but significant improvements in
growth of children under the age of five who have access to clean water and
soap.
Researchers
identified 14 studies conducted in low and middle income countries like
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chile, Guatemala, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa,
Kenya and Cambodia that provided data on the effect of water, sanitation and
hygiene programmes on the physical growth of 9,469 children.
The
authors` analysis of the data suggested that interventions to improve the
quality of the water in the household and provide soap resulted in an average
0.5cm increased height growth in children under the age of five.
"We
typically think that providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene is an
effective way to reduce the incidence and associated deaths from diseases such
as diarrhoea - which remains the third biggest killer of under fives worldwide.
For the first time our analysis suggests that better access to these services
may also have a small but important impact on the growth of young
children," lead author Dr Alan Dangour, a public health nutritionist from
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said.
"While
there are some important shortcomings in the available evidence base, we
estimate that clean drinking water and effective hand washing could reduce the
prevalence of stunting in children under the age of five by up to 15 percent.
This is potentially an extremely important finding, that identifies that
improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene could be a key part of the
tool kit to tackle the global burden of undernutrition," he said
Poor height growth, or stunting, affects 165 million
children worldwide and results in long term impacts on physical and mental
development, increasing the risk of mortality and reducing productivity in
adulthood.
Undernutrition is a cause of 3.1 million deaths annually - nearly half (45 percent) of all deaths in children under five.
02.08.2013
Indian
mothers still don`t see that breastfeeding is best: NGO
New Delhi:
Only 41 percent of Indian mothers initiate early breastfeeding. There is a lack
of awareness of the benefits of breast milk in India, an NGO said Thursday.
"There
is low awareness about the benefits of early and exclusive breastfeeding in
poor as well as affluent sections of society in India. Mother`s milk is
effectively a child`s first vaccination, and can make the difference between
life and death," said Shireen Miller, director, advocacy and policy of the
NGO Save the Children.
To raise
awareness on the benefits of breastfeeding, the NGO is marking breastfeeding
week from August 1 to 7. Celebrity mothers will be roped in to spread awareness
during this week.
"I always knew that breastfeeding was good for a baby but I never knew how important colostrum (first thick yellow milk) is to protect him from so many diseases," said actress Nandita Das.
Experts also suggest that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months can prevent malnutrition in children.
"I always knew that breastfeeding was good for a baby but I never knew how important colostrum (first thick yellow milk) is to protect him from so many diseases," said actress Nandita Das.
Experts also suggest that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months can prevent malnutrition in children.
In the national capital, only 12 percent of women
exclusively breastfed their children for the first six months; that is the
second-lowest figure in the country, after Haryana, where it was just 9.4
percent, the NGO said, adding that advertising from manufacturers of formula
foods could be to blame.
"It is surprising that many mothers go for substitutes, but are not aware that breastfeeding has several benefits, and also heightens the emotional and physical well-being of both the mother and the baby," Miller said.
The NGO said 16.5 lakh children die every year of easily preventable diseases like diarrhoea. Early initiation of breastfeeding alone could save the lives of at least 13 percent of babies, the NGO said.
The union ministry of women and child development ran an advertisement campaign Thursday stating: "Only mother`s milk for fist 6 months. Give no other food."
02.08.2013
You can’t have
a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time
Charles F. Kettering
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