Economic Effects of Sustainable Sanitation - SuSanA

Sanitation: facts and interrelationships
Figure 3: Number of undernourished people in the world, 1969 to 2015 (FAO, 2010, p. 9. Note: Figures for
2009 and 2010 are estimated by FAO with input from the United States Department of Agriculture,
Economic Research Service. Extended by projections until 2015 based on MDG 1, Target C)
2.2.1 Effects of undernourishment
After getting insights about the extent of undernourishment above, the following section will
deal with its effects. Adequate nutrition has various impacts on the human body. It is quite
obvious that nutrition is essential for growth and a good health status but furthermore it
contributes largely to the cognitive development of children and adolescents (FAO, 2010, p.
33). For instance, studies have shown that children suffering from insufficient nutrition by the
age of two years will never develop the educational and productive potential they could have
reached (FAO, 2010, p. 33).
Since undernourished people are more vulnerable to diseases they also show a higher
morbidity and are more likely to die prematurely (FAO, 2010, p. 33). Bryce (2005, p. 1147)
e.g. investigates that in the period of 2000-2003, 10.6 million children younger than five years
died in the world. 73% of all these deaths were attributable to the following incidences:
pneumonia (19%), diarrhoea (18%), malaria (8%), neonatal pneumonia or sepsis (10%),
preterm delivery (10%), and asphyxia at birth (8%). The underlying cause of 53% of these
deaths is undernutrition, adding up to more than 5 million children dying each year (Bryce,
2005, p. 1147). Finally, it has to be stressed, that nutrition is not only affected by insufficient
food quality and quantity. It is also affected by diseases such as diarrhoea, limiting the
nutrient uptake efficiency triggered by insufficient sanitation, water supply and the
―unavailability of preventive health services‖ (FAO, 2010, p. 33; Ramalingaswami, 1996).
10 As of now, undernourishment, as defined above, will be considered as indicator of deficient food supply and
extreme consequence of food insecurity.
2015 (MDG 1)
8