THE basic cause of stunting among children is poor sanitation. Malnutrition comes at a later stage along the pathway to stunting.
Children in unhygienic settings ingest pathogens every day. This is a common sight in Sindh`s rural areas. Intestinal pathogens, which cause diarrhoea, lead to long-term gut damage.
The gut damage is called environmental enteropathy (also called environmental enteric dysfunction.
Environmental enteropathy (EE) is a subclinical condition caused by constant faecal-oral contamination, resulting in blunting of intestinal villi.
EE flattens intestinal villi, and prevents nutrient absorption. Owingt o the nonabsorption of nutrients by the damaged gut lining, most nutrients pass out of the body, causing malnutrition. The pathogens leak through the gut lining, triggering an immune response, which divert nutrients from building development growth to fighting infections.
Many research papers, some as latest as November 2016, implicate unimproved sanitation asaleadingcause ofstunting among children. The UN has declared that access to safe water and sanitation is a basic human right. Each year, more than 800,000 children under five die needlessly from diarrhoea. Poor sanitation and hygiene are the primary cause.
The Sindh chief minister should widen the scope of ADB-financed`Sindh Cities Improvement Programme` to cover the whole of the province to take sanitation head on.
