Mortality and burden of disease from water and sanitation
Burden of diarrhoeal diseases related to WSH
Situation and trends
Water, sanitation, and hygiene was responsible for 1.9 million deaths from diarrhoeal disease in 2004
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Burden of cholera
Situation and trends
It is estimated that 120 000 people die of cholera each year
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Extended burden of disease estimates related to WSH
All together, improvements related to drinking-water, sanitation, hygiene, and water resource management could result in the reduction of almost 10% of the total burden of disease worldwide.
In addition to diarrhoea, an important share of the following diseases could be prevented if adequate water quality and quantity, sanitation facilities, hygiene behaviour, as well as water resource management interventions were implemented:
- Malnutrition
- Intestinal nematode infections
- Lymphatic filariasis
- Trachoma
- Schistosomiasis
- Malaria
- Drowning
- Other infectious diseases
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Deaths and DALYs estimates attributable to WSH, by country and by region, 2004
xls, 466kb
Theses disease burden estimates are based on a combination of comparative risk assessment methods, evidence synthesis and expert estimates. The scientific rigor of the estimates based on expert opinion is not of the same level as that of the estimates based on comparative risk assessment methods; these estimates are therefore not formal WHO estimates, but nevertheless are the best ones currently available.