Research Article: Association of access to water, sanitation and handwashing facilities with undernutrition of children below 5 years of age in Bangladesh: evidence from two population-based, nationally representative surveys
Abstract:
Objective To examine the association between household access to water, sanitation and handwashing (WaSH) facilities and child undernutrition in Bangladesh. Design, setting and participants Cross-sectional study of children less than 5?years using data collected from the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and the 2017–2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). Outcome measures Stunting, wasting and underweight, defined as a Z-score <?2 SD for height-for-age, weight-for-height and weight-for-age, respectively. We applied hierarchical multiple binary logistic regression models. Results Among 30?514 children 0–59 months, there was a high prevalence of child undernutrition (MICS: 28.0% stunted, 9.8% wasted, 22.6% underweight; BDHS: 30.8% stunted, 8.4% wasted, 21.7% underweight). Most children came from households lacking basic sanitation (MICS: 39.1%, BDHS: 55.3%) or handwashing facilities (MICS: 43.8%, BDHS: 62.6%). Children from households without access to WaSH facilities experienced the highest rates of undernutrition. Exposure-specific adjusted logistic regression models showed that a lack of access to improved water sources was associated with greater odds of wasting (MICS: adjusted OR (AOR) 1.36, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.85, p<0.05); basic sanitation facility with higher rates of stunting (MICS: 1.13, 1.04 to 1.23, p<0.01) and underweight (BDHS: 1.18, 1.02 to 1.37, p<0.05); and a lack of handwashing facilities with stunting (BDHS: 1.27, 1.10 to 1.48, p<0.01) and underweight (MICS: 1.10, 1.01 to 1.19, p<0.05). In fully adjusted models, no basic sanitation facility was associated with higher odds of stunting (MICS: AOR 1.12, 1.03 to 1.22, p<0.01) and a lack of handwashing facilities with higher odds of underweight (BDHS: AOR 1.30, 1.10 to 1.54, p<0.01;MICS: AOR 1.09, 1.01 to 1.19, p<0.05). Conclusion These findings demonstrate a significant association between poor household WaSH facilities and high prevalence of child undernutrition. Improving WaSH may help reduce child undernutrition in Bangladesh.
Introduction:
Undernutrition, defined as stunting, wasting and being underweight, continues to be a serious public health problem in children under 5 years and leads to over 1.0?million deaths, 3.9% of years of life lost and 3.8% of disability-adjusted life-years worldwide. 1 2 Globally, an estimated 150?million children under 5?years of age were stunted, and 45?million were wasted in 2020. 3 4 Reducing childhood stunting by 40% and limiting wasting to below 5% by 2025 were key targets set at the 65th World Health Assembly in…
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