A new study carried out by the British researchers suggests that drinking clean water and consuming soap can improve growth in young children.
The researchers achieved the result through 14 studies which took place in low and middle income countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chile, Guatemala, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya and Cambodia.
Observing nearly 10,000 children revealed evidence of small but significant improvements in growth of kids under the age of five who had access to clean water and soap.
The analysis of the data unveiled that an average of 0.5 cm increased height growth occurred in the participated children with better sanitation.
Å“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 diarrhea which remains the third biggest killer of under fives worldwide,” said lead author Dr Alan Dangour, a public health nutritionist from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Å“There is a clear link between a child drinking dirty water, getting diarrhoea and having poor growth, because repeated illnesses in early childhood can impair growth,” he explained.
Poor height growth affects 165 million children across the world, increasing the risk of death and reducing productivity in adulthood, according to the WHO report.
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Republished from: Press TV