Water and Hygiene
More than 1.5 million children under age 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases. Not only is diarrhea a life-threatening disease and one of the most frequent childhood illnesses, it also greatly impacts a child's nutritional status. The interaction between malnutrition and diarrheal diseases is two-fold. Poor nutritional status increases the risk of infection, and infections cause poor nutritional status. When infections are frequent, especially recurrent diarrheal diseases, the interaction may become circular, with an increasing frequency of infection and a parallel and progressive deterioration in nutritional status that becomes serious if the cycle is not interrupted. A clean water supply and proper sanitation and hygiene practices are well documented as means of preventing diarrhea. Point-of-use household water treatment (chlorination) has been shown to be inexpensive and highly effective in reducing incidence of diarrhea. Similar results are evident from hand washing and better hygiene in preparing and storing foods.
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