Environmental Health and Child Survival
Interest in environmental health has increased in recent years, largely because the most vulnerable groups remain disproportionately exposed to and affected by health risks from environmental hazards. More than 40 percent of the global burden of di...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2009/06/10626327/environmental-health-child-survival http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11719 |
| Summary: | Interest in environmental health has
increased in recent years, largely because the most
vulnerable groups remain disproportionately exposed to and
affected by health risks from environmental hazards. More
than 40 percent of the global burden of disease attributed
to environmental factors falls on children below five years
of age, who account for about 10 percent of the world's
population. Children are especially susceptible to
environmental factors that put them at risk of developing
illness early in life. Malnutrition is an important
contributor to child mortality; malnutrition and
environmental infections are inextricably linked, but these
links have been forgotten or neglected by policy-makers. The
World Health Organization (WHO) recently convened an expert
panel, which concluded that about 50 percent of the
consequences of malnutrition are in fact caused by
inadequate water and sanitation provision and poor hygienic
practices. Recent recognition of environmental linkages with
malnutrition highlights the urgent need to develop a
spectrum of interventions to reduce exposure to
environmental risks. |
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