Toronto (Canada), 14 feb (EFE).-the lack of drinking water and sanitation services multiplies the maternal and child mortality, according to the first study that quantifies the difference between living in a country with adequate systems and the most needy.
The report by Canadian researchers and which appears in the latest edition of the journal Environmental Health, 193 countries divided into four groups.
Data from the study State that the countries in the less secure group in terms of drinking water have 4.7 more deaths for every 1,000 children that all countries with better water treatment systems.
Similarly, the differences in terms of sanitation services are significant.
Countries located in the lowest group are 6.6 times more deaths for every 1,000 children when compared with countries in the first group.
And in terms of maternal mortality, those deaths that occur in the period of one year after the birth of a baby, Canadian scientists discovered that the odds of mortality are 42 per cent higher in countries with worse quality of drinking water.
When health services is examined, the odds of mortality increase 48% in those countries with worst systems.
According to data from the UN, more than 800 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and some 2.7 billion people are without access to sanitation in the world.
In addition, the World Health Organization (who) estimates that nearly 10% of the global burden of diseases could be prevented with improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation for the world’s population services.
Zafar Monica, director of UN-Water (an organization which coordinates all activities related to the UN water) and the Institute for water, environment and health, with headquarters in Canada, told Efe that the study highlights the importance of water and sanitation in child health.
Monica stressed that until now, although knew what “health impacts by the lack of access to water and sanitation services, there was a measurable way to evaluate these data.” “This study proves the rate of infant and maternal mortality, and establishing correlations with the level of access in each country”.
“Discovered two things.” First, that there is a strong correlation between access to water and sanitation services and mortality indicators. “And, second, that the difference between groups, which are quite significant differences cannot be quantified,” added.
June Cheng, the principal author of the study and is associated with the McMaster University (Canada) and the Institute of water, environment and health, told Efe that the reason why so far had not quantified the impact of access to water and sanitation in infant mortality is the difficulty of analysis.
“A reason for what has not been done before is to seek to establish the link we have to simplify a very complicated issue as it is water and maternal health in very few numbers.” “And there are many possibilities for error in this kind of analysis,” concluded Cheng.
Data from the study State that the countries in the less secure group in terms of drinking water have 4.7 more deaths for every 1,000 children that all countries with better water treatment systems. EFE/file
