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
3815-3824
Momberg, Douglas J.
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Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E.
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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), .
(doi:10.1080/17441692.2022.2036218).
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.
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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
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Local EPrints ID: 496976
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/496976
ISSN: 1744-1692
PURE UUID: 1aac95ac-c3f0-43c4-81b5-aa8eee2544b0
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Date deposited: 09 Jan 2025 17:31
Last modified: 10 Jan 2025 03:05
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Author:
Douglas J. Momberg
Author:
Lee E. Voth-Gaeddert
Author:
Linda M. Richter
Author:
Rihlat Said-Mohamed
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