Baby WASH and the 1000 Days: A Practical Package for Stunting Reduction

This document outlines the package of activities proposed in order to integrate WASH, nutrition and health sectors around the 1,000 days for stunting prevention.

Published: 2017

Globally, it is estimated that 24% of children under five are stunted and regionally, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa carry most of this burden. Stunting has severe short and long-term consequences for children and their development. Causes are multiple and complex, not only restricted to dietary intake. Poor WASH conditions are thought to be one of the main causes of child stunting.

The BabyWASH concept has recently emerged to link the WASH, Nutrition, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and Early Childhood Development sectors. Its goal is to have a more profound impact on child health outcomes in order to improve well-being in the first 1,000 days of life. This document will present how the BabyWASH approach can contribute directly to Action Against Hunger’s vision of eradicating hunger and undernutrition in all its forms, and in particular, stunting. A package of activities is proposed in order to integrate WASH, nutrition and health sectors around the 1,000 days for stunting prevention. The package has been conceived to focus on household level with the objective of complementing already existing programmes that address other WASH needs, such as health centres and schools.