A new study shows a relationship between unsafe water and sanitation and child death rates and maternal mortality, researchers say
NEW YORK (TrustLaw) - Better access to water and sanitation is crucial to reducing maternal mortality and achieving Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), according to the results of a new study.
The impact of unsafe water and sanitation on the death rates of children under the age of five and mothers in the year after childbirth have been quantified for the first time, according to the report, published in the UK journal Environmental Health.
Researchers measured access to safe water and sanitation in 193 countries and compared their findings with maternal and child deaths in those countries to reach their conclusions.
Dividing the countries into four tiers, or quartiles, researchers found that countries ranked in the bottom 25 percent in terms of safe water had about 4.7 more deaths per 1,000 children under the age of five than countries in the top 25 percent. When it came to sanitation, countries in the bottom 25 percent experienced 6.6 percent more deaths per 1,000 children under the age of five than countries in the top quartile.
Maternal mortality rates, defined as the death of a woman within a year of childbirth, also showed connections between lack of clean water and sanitation.
The report found that the odds of a new mother dying increase 42 percent from the top-ranked tier of countries to each lower tier and increase 48 percent from the top to each lower tier in terms of inadequate sanitation.
“If the world is to seriously address the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child and maternal mortality, then improved water and sanitation accesses are key strategies,” said the authors of the study in a statement.
The Millennium Development Goals are a framework of eight global targets established in 2000 by the United Nations (U.N.) to be met by 2015 to try and alleviate poverty. MDG 5 proposes that maternal mortality rates should be reduced by three quarters and MDG 7 stipulates that the number of people without basic sanitation should be halved.
An estimated 1.4 million children die each year from preventable diarrheal diseases and almost 90 percent of diarrhea cases are related to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or inadequate hygiene, the report said.
An additional preventable 860,000 child deaths each year are due to malnutrition. The report notes that about half of these deaths are associated with repeated diarrhea or intestinal nematode infections associated with unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene.
Maternal deaths also may come as a result of the same factors. The report found that health centres providing maternal care and delivery can expose women to unsafe water, poor sanitation and poor management of medical waste. It says that “15 percent of all maternal deaths are caused by infections in the 6 weeks after childbirth and have mainly been found to be due to unhygienic practices and poor infection control during labour and delivery.”
The report concludes that at the current rate, the world will miss the MDG sanitation target by 13 percent, with 2.7 billion people still lacking basic sanitation.
It found that at the current rate the world will meet the MDG target for water. However, it notes that even if the MDG goal is met, there will still be 672 million people without access to improved water sources in 2015.
The research received core funding from the government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and was conducted by researchers affiliated with McMaster University in Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario and United Nations University.
(Editing by Julie Mollins)
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