The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Rethinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for human growth and development

Rethinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for human growth and development
Rethinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for human growth and development
Life history theory emphasises plasticity in developmental and biological programming where conditions in early life, lead to long-term consequences for health and wellbeing. Studies linking water, sanitation, and hygiene, nutrition, and child growth and development have emphasised the optimisation of linear growth as a key metric for the evaluation of intervention efficacy. Life history characteristics pertaining to human growth and phenotypic plasticity, suggest that different developmental outcomes in early childhood may be responsive to different stimuli at different ages. Energy utilisation by the human brain, from birth through childhood, accounts for a disproportionate percentage of the resting metabolic rate. Undernutrition in early life, and its relative resultant energy deficiency, may trigger adaptive physiological mechanisms prioritising brain growth at the expense of body growth. Emphasis placed on linear growth may have impeded the significance of WASH due to excluding aspects of child development beyond height/weight. We propose that incorporating evolutionary public health and life history theory perspectives, allows for the identification of age-appropriate biological outcomes and WASH indicators, while anticipating the timing and life-course suitability of the interventions being operationalised. Finally, integrating reflections regarding context allows for the development of transformative WASH interventions.
WASH, life history theory, evolutionary public health, early childhood development, humanitarian settings
1744-1692
3815-3824
Momberg, Douglas J.
f1503cfd-77ca-4a1a-9097-17a252be2b8f
Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E.
3d5cff75-88d6-4d7a-9095-2394785803b1
Richter, Linda M.
2a818b1f-3798-4e6e-841d-c19bbb74bac2
Norris, Shane A.
1d346f1b-6d5f-4bca-ac87-7589851b75a4
Said-Mohamed, Rihlat
3b2176f9-b5b0-4296-b76d-36fea8442b5d
Momberg, Douglas J.
f1503cfd-77ca-4a1a-9097-17a252be2b8f
Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E.
3d5cff75-88d6-4d7a-9095-2394785803b1
Richter, Linda M.
2a818b1f-3798-4e6e-841d-c19bbb74bac2
Norris, Shane A.
1d346f1b-6d5f-4bca-ac87-7589851b75a4
Said-Mohamed, Rihlat
3b2176f9-b5b0-4296-b76d-36fea8442b5d

Momberg, Douglas J., Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E., Richter, Linda M., Norris, Shane A. and Said-Mohamed, Rihlat (2022) Rethinking water, sanitation, and hygiene for human growth and development. Global Public Health, 17 (12), 3815-3824. (doi:10.1080/17441692.2022.2036218).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Life history theory emphasises plasticity in developmental and biological programming where conditions in early life, lead to long-term consequences for health and wellbeing. Studies linking water, sanitation, and hygiene, nutrition, and child growth and development have emphasised the optimisation of linear growth as a key metric for the evaluation of intervention efficacy. Life history characteristics pertaining to human growth and phenotypic plasticity, suggest that different developmental outcomes in early childhood may be responsive to different stimuli at different ages. Energy utilisation by the human brain, from birth through childhood, accounts for a disproportionate percentage of the resting metabolic rate. Undernutrition in early life, and its relative resultant energy deficiency, may trigger adaptive physiological mechanisms prioritising brain growth at the expense of body growth. Emphasis placed on linear growth may have impeded the significance of WASH due to excluding aspects of child development beyond height/weight. We propose that incorporating evolutionary public health and life history theory perspectives, allows for the identification of age-appropriate biological outcomes and WASH indicators, while anticipating the timing and life-course suitability of the interventions being operationalised. Finally, integrating reflections regarding context allows for the development of transformative WASH interventions.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Submitted date: 2 November 2021
Accepted/In Press date: 3 January 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 February 2022
Keywords: WASH, life history theory, evolutionary public health, early childhood development, humanitarian settings

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 496976
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/496976
ISSN: 1744-1692
PURE UUID: 1aac95ac-c3f0-43c4-81b5-aa8eee2544b0
ORCID for Shane A. Norris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-3788

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Jan 2025 17:31
Last modified: 10 Jan 2025 03:05

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Douglas J. Momberg
Author: Lee E. Voth-Gaeddert
Author: Linda M. Richter
Author: Shane A. Norris ORCID iD
Author: Rihlat Said-Mohamed

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×