Environmental Health and Child Survival: Epidemiology, Economics, Experiences

by World Bank

• ISBN13: 9780821372364
• ISBN10: 082137236X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-01
• Publisher: World Bank

Summary

Each year, millions of children in developing countries fall sick and die from diseases caused by polluted air, contaminated water and soil, and poor hygiene behavior. Repeated infectious also contribute to malnutrition in children, and subsequently impacts future learning and productivity. This book analyzes the linkages between malnutrition and environmental health, and assesses the burden of disease on young children, and its economic costs.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Abbreviations and Acronyms	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Objectives	p. 4
Audience	p. 5
A Primer on Environmental Health	p. 5
A Primer on Malnutrition	p. 6
Content and Organization	p. 7
Epidemiology	p. 15
Environmental Health, Malnutrition, and Child Health	p. 17
Environmental Factors, Exposure, and Transmission Pathways	p. 18
Vicious Cycle of Infections and Malnutrition	p. 19
Environmental Role in Early Childhood Health	p. 23
Averting Cognition and Learning Impacts	p. 28
Key Messages	p. 30
Note	p. 30
How Environmental Health Supplements Other Child Survival Strategies	p. 31
Adding Value to Health Systems	p. 32
Adapting Environmental Management Programs	p. 38
Adjusting Infrastructure Strategies	p. 39
Key Messages	p. 43
Notes	p. 43
Economics	p. 45
How Large Is the Environmental Health Burden?	p. 47
Burden of Disease	p. 48
Environmental Health Burdens	p. 51
Areas for Future Research	p. 58
Key Messages	p. 59
Notes	p. 59
Estimating the Environmental Health Burden and Costs at the Country Level	p. 61
Existing Practice in Environmental Health Valuation	p. 61
Building New Estimates for Environmental Health Costs	p. 62
Case Studies of Ghana and Pakistan	p. 64
Results for Ghana and Pakistan	p. 66
Conclusion	p. 77
Next Steps	p. 79
Key Messages	p. 81
Notes	p. 81
Experiences	p. 83
Approaches to Environmental Health	p. 85
History of Environmental Health	p. 86
Agenda Falling through the Cracks	p. 88
Environmental Health Experiences in Developing Countries	p. 90
Understanding the Enabling Environment	p. 97
Governance and Institutional Implications	p. 100
Institutional Requirements for Successful Environmental Health Governance	p. 104
A Critical Moment	p. 109
Key Messages	p. 109
Note	p. 110
Conclusion	p. 111
Contributions of This Report	p. 111
Next Steps	p. 113
Appendixes
Technical Review of Cohort Studies	p. 117
Background	p. 117
Search Strategy and Selection Criteria	p. 118
Findings and Discussion	p. 118
Experimental Evidence from Deworming	p. 122
Conclusions	p. 123
Notes	p. 125
Review of Studies on Nutritional Status and Education	p. 141
Diarrhea and Education	p. 145
Conclusions	p. 145
Note	p. 146
New Estimates for Burden of Disease from Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene	p. 147
Computing Country-Level Environmental Health Burden of Disease	p. 151
Mortality	p. 151
Education	p. 160
Notes	p. 170
Methodological Aspects of Assessing Environmental Health Burden of Disease	p. 173
From Relative Risks to Attributable Fractions	p. 173
Dealing with Biased Estimates of Relative Risk	p. 176
Notes	p. 177
Monetary Valuation of the Cost of Environmental Health Risks	p. 179
Note	p. 181
References	p. 183
Index	p. 201
Boxes
What Is Environmental Health?	p. 2
Impact of Diarrhea on Child Malnutrition: Evidence from Research	p. 22
Overweight Mothers Carrying Underweight Children	p. 25
Why 50 Percent? Supporting Evidence from Recent Cohort Studies	p. 50
Revisiting the "Asian Enigma"	p. 54
The Mills-Reincke Phenomenon	p. 56
Basic Indicators for Ghana and Pakistan	p. 65
Attributable Fractions and Burden of Disease When Multiple Risk Factors Are Present	p. 75
How Policy-Makers Should Interpret These Results	p. 80
Combating Disease through Improved Milk	p. 87
Mexico: Multisectorality through a Diagonal Approach	p. 92
Thailand's National Nutrition Program	p. 93
Ethiopia: The Toilet Revolution	p. 95
Vietnam's Dengue Program	p. 97
Atrophy of Environmental Health Functions in India	p. 101
Institutional Evolution of Environmental Health: The Case of Ethiopia	p. 102
Figures
The F-Diagram: Transmission Routes for Infection	p. 19
Relationship between Nutrition and Infection	p. 20
Environmental Health Inputs and Health Outcomes in the Child's Life Cycle	p. 24
The Window of Opportunity for Addressing Undernutrition	p. 27
Range of Preventive Activities in Child Survival	p. 32
The Health Effects of Environmental Risks Factors	p. 52
Water-Related (WSH plus WRM) Burden of Disease in Children under Five Attributable to Environmental Risk Factors by WHO Region, 2002	p. 53
Mills-Reincke Ratios for Subregions	p. 55
Cost of Environmental Health Risks	p. 63
Weight-for-Age Distribution of Children in Ghana and Pakistan	p. 70
Two-Week Diarrheal Prevalence Rate by Age and Underweight Status in Ghana and Pakistan	p. 71
Underweight Malnutrition Rates in Children with and without Diarrheal Infections in Ghana and Pakistan	p. 73
Calculating Revised Estimates (Indirect and Direct Effects)	p. 74
Final Results of Ghana and Pakistan Case Studies	p. 78
Summary of the Methodology	p. 152
Exposure Categories	p. 155
Exposure Categories, Population Shares, and Relative Risks of ALRI in Ghana	p. 159
Tables
Millennium Development Goals and Environmental Health	p. 3
Annual Cost of Direct and Indirect Impact of Environmental Risk Factors in 2005	p. 10
Water-Related Transmission Routes and Disease Outcome	p. 18
Impact of Infection on Nutritional Status	p. 21
Role of Environmental Health in Supplementing Health System Strategies	p. 33
Environmental Risk Factors and Related Diseases Included in the Comparative Risk Assessment	p. 49
Environmentally Attributable Fractions of Child Mortality, Keeping Malnutrition Unchanged	p. 67
Estimated Mortality in Under-Five Children from Environmental Risk Factors, 2005	p. 67
Malnutrition Rates in Children under the Age of Five	p. 68
Malnutrition-Attributable Fractions of Child Mortality	p. 70
Environmentally Attributable Fractions and Child Mortality with Malnutrition-Mediated Effects	p. 74
Effects of Malnutrition on Education	p. 76
Annual Cost of Direct and Indirect Effect of Environmental Risk Factors in 2005	p. 79
Cohort Follow-up Studies Relating Infectious Disease and Nutritional Status of Children in Developing Countries	p. 126
Studies of the Effects of Malnutrition on Educational Outcomes	p. 142
Burden of Disease (in DALYs) in Children under Five Years Attributable to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, by World Health Organization Subregions, 2002	p. 148
Causes of Death and Risk Factors Considered in this Study	p. 152
Estimating the Cost of Environmental Health Risks: Information Types and Sources	p. 154
Relative Risks by Exposure Categories, Assuming Cox Hazard Model	p. 156
Weight Gain Retardation Factors by Age and z-Score	p. 157
Weight for Age in Children under Five: Current Rates and Estimated Rates in the Absence of Diarrheal Infections in Ghana	p. 158
Estimated Mortality in Children under Five from Environmental Risk Factors, Ghana	p. 159
Estimated Annual Cost of Education Outcomes from Stunting and Share from Environmental Factors in Ghana	p. 161
Height Growth Retardation Factors by Age and z-Score	p. 162
Height-for-Age Rates in Children under Five: Current Rates and Estimated Rates in the Absence of Diarrheal Infections in Ghana	p. 162
Parameter Values Applied in Estimation of Income Losses	p. 165
Income Distribution across Malnutrition Categories and Wealth Quintiles in Ghana	p. 167
Annual Cost of Environmental Factors (Percentage of GDP in 2005), Using 3 Percent Discount Rate	p. 168
Annual Cost of Environmental Factors (Percentage of GDP in 2005), Using 5 Percent Discount Rate	p. 169
Environmental Risk Factors and Related Diseases Included in the WHO Comparative Risk Assessment	p. 174
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.