For India’s children, poor sanitation affects growth

Malnutrition and stunted growth impacts both wealthy and poor children in India, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researcher SV Subramanian said at an international research conference held November 10-12, 2014 in New Delhi. The conference, entitled Stop Stunting, was sponsored by UNICEF South Asia and focused on ways to prevent malnutrition in children, which may be due partly to poor diets and eating habits but also to poor sanitary conditions.

At least 620 million people—about half of the population in India—defecates outdoors, according to a November 10, 2014 New York Times article about the conference. Recent research suggests that this may be one reason why about 50% of children in India are stunted. Frequent exposure to animal and human feces may contribute to chronic bacterial infections and diarrhea that prevent the children from absorbing nutrients from food.

Subramanian, professor of population health and geography at HSPH and a faculty member of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, said children in wealthy families may have toilets but live near others without toilets and be infected by bacteria spread by flies and water. “Having a toilet doesn’t protect you,” Subramanian told the Times.

Read the New York Times article: Talks in India to Focus on Link Between Hygiene and Growth

View a UNICEF multimedia interview with Subramanian

Read a UNICEF press release on the conference: Stop Stunting Conference calls for more investment to reduce child stunting in South Asia

Learn more

Economic growth no cure for child undernutrition (HSPH press release)

Harvard-led research to quantify economic costs of stunted child cognitive development in resource-poor countries (HSPH News)

Economic growth fails to remedy undernutrition in India’s children (HSPH News)