For more information about why I am creating this new thread, please see here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/10-gen...d-sub-category-level

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This thread is a "sticky thread" which means it will always remain at the top of this sub-category.
It contains a recommendation and orientation for newcomers regarding the most important five documents in the thematic area of "Nutrition and WASH".

The selection of documents is so far based on what I've seen coming up in people's posts and e-mails. I am open to feedback if others think that other documents or links should be selected here. Nowadays, WASH and nutrition publications seem to often have focus on stunted growth, so you'll see some documents and links dealing with that issue in particular.

Recommended top five documents in the thematic area of "Nutrition and WASH", in reverse chronological order:

(1)
Generation Nutrition (2015) The Role of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in the fight against child undernutrition, Prevention Factsheet 01, produced by the Generation Nutrition global campaign team, WaterAid and End Water Poverty on behalf of Generation Nutrition.
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2385

This factsheet is the first in a series by generation nutrition looking at the different ways of preventing child undernutrition, and focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). It explains how WASH and nutritional outcomes for children are intimately linked and how improved WASH reduces undernutrition, thereby helping to break the cycle of poverty and transform people’s lives.

(2)
WHO, UNICEF & USAID (2015). Improving Nutrition Outcomes with Better Water, Sanitation and Hygiene - Practical Solutions for Policies and Programmes. World Health Organization (WHO). Geneva, Switzerland
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2365

This publication summarizes the current evidence on the benefits of WASH for improving nutrition outcomes and describes how WASH interventions can be integrated into nutrition programmes. It provides practical suggestions, targeted at nutrition programme managers and implementers, on both “what” WASH interventions should be included in nutrition programmes and “how” to include them. It also seeks to help the WASH community to better understand their role, both as providers of technical expertise in WASH interventions and in prioritizing longer-term improvements to WASH infrastructure in areas where undernutrition is a concern.

(3)
Velleman, Y., Pugh, I. (2015). Under-nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene - Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) play a fundamental role in improving nutritional outcomes. A successful global effort to tackle under-nutrition must include WASH. WaterAid and SHARE (Sanitation and Applied Research for Equity consortium), UK
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/1794

This short briefing note is explaining the links between undernutrition and WASH. The relationship between nutrition and WASH is complex, with multiple and overlapping pathways. Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene are directly linked to undernutrition in children through three key pathways: diarrhoea, intestinal worms (soil-transmitted helminths) and environmental enteric dysfunction (EED). Action and collaboration between the WASH and nutrition sectors are urgently needed at global, national and programmatic levels.

(4)
Concern Worldwide (2014). How to better link WASH and nutrition programmes, Concern Worldwide
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2150

The paper gives guidance and some practical suggestions on making WASH programmes more nutrition-sensitive and on how nutrition programmes can better incorporate WASH aspects. Made suggestions are divided into six categories: During the assessment phase; During counselling and health promotion activities; When strengthening overall community services; At institutional level (government, NGO); Under emergency response programmes; Through joint research projects

(5)
Chambers, R., von Medeazza, G. (2014). Reframing undernutrition: faecally-transmitted Infections and the 5 As. IDS Working Paper 450, Institue of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton, UK, ISBN: 978-1-78118-205-5
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2386

To reframe undernutrition for a better balance of understanding and interventions, we propose two inclusive concepts: the FTIs and the 5 As. The first two As – availability and access – are oral, about food intake, while the last three As – absorption, antibodies and allopathogens – are novel categories, anal and internal, about FTIs and what happens inside the body. These concepts have implications for research, professional teaching and training, and policy and practice.

You can find further important documents and website links dealing with this topic here:

• Filter the library by SuSanA Working Group 12 (WG 12 is the working group on WASH and nutrition): www.susana.org/en/resources/library?vbl_...5D=&vbl_8%5B80%5D=80
• Resources compiled by the WASHPlus project (5 year project, ending in 2015): www.washplus.org/resources
• Publications by SHARE project: www.shareresearch.org/themes/nutrition
• Conference by UNICEF "Stop Stunting" in Delhi, India in November 2014 (note: this page takes a while to load): www.stopstunting.org/ ; see also policy brief which was prepared for this conference: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2387
• Project Alive & Thrive: aliveandthrive.org/
• The following Wikipedia articles exist on this topic:
  • Stunded growth: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunted_growth
  • Malnutrition: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition
  • Environmental enteropathy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_enteropathy

Please provide your feedback. What do you think of this selection? We can update it from time to time.

Regards,
Elisabeth


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P.S. Documents which I had earlier on considered to be in the Top-5 but have decided not to include in the most important 5 documents for newcomers (I will delete or edit this P.S. once I've received feedback from others):

(A) - not included as it's only a draft
Lapegue, J., Lozano , R., Lellouche, K., Onsurbe, J.I, Coerver,A. , Simon, S., Gensch, R., Schmidt, A. (2015). WASH in Nutrition - Factsheet of Working Group 12 (draft). SuSanA
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2163

This document is a compilation of main facts, existing evidence and remaining research gaps regarding the link between inadequate sanitary conditions and its underestimated impact on undernutrition and stunting, particularly for children under five years of age. This is a draft version.

(B )

Schmidt, C. W. (2014). Beyond Malnutrition - The Role of Sanitation in Stunted Growth. Environmental Health Perspectives Vol. 122 Number 11 November 2014 doi:10.1289/ehp.122-A298
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2151
or
ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-A298/

Researchers are exploring the possibility that poor hygiene and a lack of sanitation induce a gut disorder called environmental enteropathy (EE) that diverts energy from growth toward an ongoing fight against subclinical infection. Nutritionists are now collaborating with experts in a field known as water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and their combined efforts are helping to galvanize regional programs to improve hygiene in countries afflicted with high stunting rates.

(C) - I am very undecided about this one, perhaps it's more important than one of the 5 that I picked above?
Denis, C., Lapegue, J., Lellouche, K., Lozano, R., Rodriguez, E. (2014). WASH and Undernutrition - Briefing paper. ACF (Action contre La Faim), Paris, France
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2131

The first section of this document explains the links between WASH interventions and undernutrition as well as the important role the WASH sector has to play within a strategy to combat undernutrition. The second section highlights the low priority and poor funding that the WASH sector obtains within national and international nutrition programmes.

Hi Elisabeth,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to input on this sticky note. We at SHARE think this is an excellent list and are really happy to see our policy brief (Velleman et al) made the cut!

Another very salient reading that would fit well on the list is Humphrey 2009, Child undernutrition, tropical enteropathy, toilets, and handwashing: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60950-8/abstract * - thanks goes to Oliver Cumming, Lecturer at LSHTM, for the recommendation.

Best wishes,
Alex


* Available in the SuSanA library here: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/1792 (comment added by moderator)

Dear Elisabeth,

The paper: Beyond Malnutrition - The Role of Sanitation in Stunted Growth, is from volume 122 | number 11 | November 2014 • Environmental Health Perspectives.

Perhaps, other articles in this EHP issue must also be dealing with Sanitation and children.
Will it be possible for you to have the whole issue of EHP on this forum’s library?

Regards,
F H Mughal

Hi Mughal,

I took a look at the journal's website. Here is the overview for that issue in question (i.e. volume 122 | number 11 | November 2014 • Environmental Health Perspectives):

ehp.niehs.nih.gov/november-2014/

It does not include other articles on the topic of sanitation and children.

This journal has a great archive page, by the way:
ehp.niehs.nih.gov/journal-archive/

And, amazingly, all articles are open access and free (see here: ehp.niehs.nih.gov/journal-information/ ):

Published since 1972, EHP has been online-only since January 2013. EHP is open access, and all content is available for free online.

Permissions and Copyright: EHP is a publication of the U.S. Federal Government, and its content lies in the public domain. No permission is required to reuse EHP content. However, use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, “Reproduced from Environmental Health Perspectives”) and a link provided to the article from which the material was reproduced.

And more information from their website (perhaps more people should publish articles on WASH and health topics there!):

Environmental Health Perspectives (ISSN-L 0091-6765) is a monthly peer-reviewed journal of research and news published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The mission of EHP is to serve as a forum for the discussion of the interrelationships between the environment and human health by publishing high-quality research and news of the field. With an impact factor of 7.98, EHP is ranked 2nd of 87 journals in Toxicology, 3rd of 162 journals in Public, Environmental and Occupational Health, and 4th of 221 journals in Environmental Sciences.

The environmental health sciences include many fields of study and increasingly comprise a multidisciplinary research area. EHP publishes articles from a wide range of scientific disciplines encompassing basic research; epidemiologic studies; risk assessment; relevant ethical, legal, social, environmental justice, and policy topics; longitudinal human studies; and in vitro and in vivo animal research with a clear relationship to human health. Because children are uniquely sensitive to their environments, EHP devotes a research section specifically to issues surrounding children’s environmental health.

Dear Elisabeth,

Though I'm a bit familiar with EHP, you have given a good background information.
Thanks for digging out all that information. I'm sure, that would be quite an information for other forum users, as well.


F H Mughal

A few more resources that might be useful:

• Call to Action on improving Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for Maternal and Newborn Health


• WASHplus in Mali: integrating WASH and nutrition for healthy communities


• Evaluation of an integrated health-nutrition-WASH project to reduce malnutrition prevalence in children under two in Bangladesh


• Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), environmental enteropathy, nutrition, and early child development: making the links

Jaleh

Jaleh Saboktakin
Project Support Officer
Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN)

Dear Elisabeth,

Thanks for the "sticky post" about best readings and thanks for the suggestions above.

We tabled the question of "best readings" in our last WG 12 meeting. With some really useful toolkits and publications that came out this year, the discussion deserves a revisit every now and then.

Here are the results from our discussion in Stockholm (by year of publication)

• The Recipe for Success (WaterAid, ACF, SHARE Consortium, 2017)
• 2+6=17 Linking WASH and Nutrition – A Blueprint for Living SDG 17 (German WASH Network, 2017)
• WASH’Nutrition – A Practical Guidebook (ACF, 2017)
• What Lies Behind a Good Nutritional Status? (ACF, 2017)
• SUN in Practice Briefs
• The missing ingredients (WaterAid, SHARE Consortium, 2016)
• Nutrition-WASH Toolkit (UNICEF, 2016)
• WASH in Nut Strategy (Regional WASH Group, West and Central Africa, 2015)

Happy to hear some reflections about them.
Best,
Jona

Dear Jona,
Great, yes please, let's revisit this! My post at the start from this thread is from nearly two years ago, so it's high time that it gets updated. The idea with these sticky posts was to highlight the "Top 5" (really just five!) and then give further links where people can find out more.

How about we do it like this. We end this thread (by locking it) and make it unsticky. Then you set up a new post which is in the same style as how mine was (namely the one from 14 Dec 2015) and we make that a sticky post. Sticky means it gets a different color and always stays at the top of this sub-category.
Good plan?

Cheers,
Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth, dear WG12,

For the update of the sticky note for the top five readings as you suggest, it would be useful to have documents following each of the new sub-caterogies of this WG, meaning e.g. two with a focus on policy/advocacy, two with a focus on implementation and at least one research paper.

Policy / Advocacy:

• The Recipe for Success (WaterAid, ACF, SHARE Consortium, 2017)
• 2+6=17 Linking WASH and Nutrition – A Blueprint for Living SDG 17 (German WASH Network, 2017)

Implementation:

• WASH’Nutrition – A Practical Guidebook (ACF, 2017)
• Nutrition-WASH Toolkit (UNICEF, 2016)

Research:

• Risk factors for childhood stunting in 137 developing countries: A comparative risk assessment analysis at global, regional and country level (Danaei et al., 2016)

This research suggestion has not yet extensively been discussed, glad to hear opinions.
Best,
Jona

Dear Ms. Jona,

Please forgive me as I'm not quite clear. Are you looking for publications on WASH and nutrition?

Regards,

F H Mughal

Dear Mr. Mughal,

I'm always looking for WASH-Nutrition publications

But currently, we are revisiting the 5 so-called "best readings" to allow people to easily enter this subject by giving recommendations what to read first to get a good overview in the respective sub-categories. Every now and then, those best readings need to be updated.

In our last WG 12 meeting and in following discussions, we came up with the 5 publications (see previous post).

Hope, it is a bit clearer now.

Best,
Jona

Dear Ms. Jona,

Thank you for making it clear.

Since there a number of good publications on WASH-Nutrition, you may like to examine the possibilities of increasing the number of publications to 10 (from 5) - just a modest suggestion.

Regards,
F H Mughal