Devastating disease burden avoidable with better water and sanitation practices, Bartram says
| November 19, 2010 | |
Dr. Jamie Bartram
A new series published in leading medical journal Public Library of Science Medicine calls attention to the fact that poor sanitation, water and hygiene not only lead to the deaths of more than two million children each year, but also result in a massive global disease burden. Jamie Bartram, PhD, director of The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a UNC environmental sciences and engineering professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, is lead author of the introductory paper of four, released Nov. 16 in PLoS Medicine. The paper, co-authored with Sandy Cairncross, PhD, professor of environmental health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, highlights how sanitation and water, along with better hygiene, are the “forgotten foundations of health.” The series asks how the opportunity to save so many lives is failing to attract the attention of the international health community.
“Globally, around 2.4 million deaths could be prevented annually if everyone practiced appropriate hygiene and had good, reliable sanitation and drinking water,” the authors say. “These deaths are mostly of children in developing countries from diarrhea and subsequent malnutrition, and from other diseases attributable to malnutrition. Unsafe sanitation and drinking water, as well as hygiene, account for nearly 20 per cent of all child deaths in the world and at least 7 per cent of the total global disease burden.
“How is an opportunity to prevent so many deaths and more than 6 percent of the global burden of disease failing to attract the attention of the international public health community?” Bartram and Cairncross ask.
In 2010, almost one fifth of the world’s population still defecate in the open, and 2.6 billion people do not have access to even a basic toilet.This renewed focus on sanitation comes ahead of World Toilet Day on Nov. 19 – an international day to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis. The series also coincides with the launch of the SHARE Consortium, an initiative funded by the U.K.’s Department for International Development to undertake research to improve sanitation and hygiene in poor countries.
“For me, there is no greater indictment of our age than that we continue to allow millions of children to die from entirely preventable diseases,” said Cairncross, research director of SHARE and lead author of the series. “The centrality of sanitation and water and hygiene to health has been made clear in numerous international declarations, but sadly this has not translated into progress on the ground.”
Most of these diseases, including diarrhea, cholera and typhoid, can be prevented easily with cheap and proven interventions, such as pit latrines and hand washing with soap. Despite this, according to the series of articles, progress has been “painfully slow” in many developing countries. The series provides evidence and urges members of the health community, from international donors and U.N. agencies to governments of developing countries, to take immediate action to reduce this “devastating disease burden.”
Barbara Frost, chief executive of development organization WaterAid, which is part of SHARE, and co-author of the PLoS series, said, “It is clear that with increased investment in water and sanitation, we could significantly decrease child mortality. The lives of the world’s poorest people are being threatened because of a blindspot when it comes to these basic human rights.”
The four papers emphasize the effectiveness of local solutions and the importance of health professionals working with counterparts from other sectors. The series issues a call for:
The urgency of these actions is strongly emphasized, particularly as coverage will have to increase markedly to keep pace with rapid population growth in towns and cities. “Children are dying every day from diseases such as diarrhea, even though we know how to prevent them,” said Clarissa Brocklehurst, chief of Water and Sanitation for UNICEF. “We must work hand in hand – health professionals alongside engineers – to ensure that improvements in water supply, sanitation and hygiene reach everyone.” “We can no longer stand by and ignore the crucial underlying role that these interventions play in health and development.” Key facts
SHARE Consortium is a research program led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with partners across Africa and South Asia that will identify solutions to this crisis. PLoS Medicine series on water & sanitation Paper 1: Hygiene, Sanitation and Water: Forgotten Foundations of Health Paper 2: Water Supply and Health Paper 3: Sanitation and Health Paper 4: Hygiene, Sanitation and Water: What Needs to Be Done? UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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