Diahrrea and WASH: Two New Papers Published 9 September 2016

9 September 2016

Access to water and sanitation during childbirth is poor across low and middle-income countries. Even when women travel to health facilities for childbirth, they are not guaranteed access to basic WATSAN infrastructure. Hygiene during childbirth is essential to the health of mothers and newborns, irrespective of where birth takes place. This paper investigates the status of water and sanitation in both the home and facility childbirth environments, and for whom and where this is a more significant problem.

2016 Gon Who delivers without water 1

9 September 2016

Access to water and sanitation during childbirth is poor across low and middle-income countries. Even when women travel to health facilities for childbirth, they are not guaranteed access to basic WATSAN infrastructure. Hygiene during childbirth is essential to the health of mothers and newborns, irrespective of where birth takes place. This paper investigates the status of water and sanitation in both the home and facility childbirth environments, and for whom and where this is a more significant problem. pdfGon et al, Who Delivers without Water? A Multi Country Analysis of Water and Sanitation in the Childbirth Environment. PLoS ONE

Diarrhea remains a high burden disease, responsible for nine percent of deaths in children under five globally. Many children’s lives can be saved with correct management of childhood diarrhea. Too many children are not receiving adequate care for diarrhea in high-burden sub-Saharan African countries, even among those seen in health facilities. Redoubling efforts to increase care seeking and improve quality of care for childhood diarrhea in both health facilities and at community level is an urgent priority. This paper analyzed diarrhea management practices in young children and their association with the source of care. pdfCarvajal-Vélez et al, Diarrhea management in children under five in sub-Saharan Africa: does the source of care matter? A Countdown analysis. BMC Public Health