1. Unsafe drinking water,
Malnutrition and Education
Prakash Satyavageeswaran
Indian School of Business

2. • Motivation
• Literature
– Water Contamination & Waterborne diseases
– Waterborne diseases & malnutrition
– Malnutrition & cognitive development
– Social marketing
• Connecting the dots
• Practitioner relevance
• Implications & Directions

3. Motivation
• Social marketing & water interventions
• Quest for simple interventions

4. Water Borne Diseases
• ~ 11 million children < 5 die every year
– Diarrhoea claims 1/5th of them (Boschi- Pinto et al,
2008)
• Impact higher if seen from DALYs perspective

5. Malnutrition
• ‘Diarrhoea as a cause and an effect of
malnutrition’ (Guerrant et al, 1992)
• Reduction of immunity (Cairncross & Bartram,
2000)

6. Cognitive Development
• Malnutrition causes physical stunting (Alderman et al,
2006)
– Later starting of school
– Dropping out early
• Diminished cognitive function (Nieahaus et al, 2002)
• Reduced cognitive development (Borwn & Pollitt,
1996)
– Structural damage to brain
– Reduced exploration of environment

7. Prevention of Contamination
• Safe water is key in preventing outbreak of
diarrhoeal diseases (Hunter, 1997)
• Effectiveness of treatment at source (Esray et
al, 1986 & 1991)
• Treatment at household level (Clasen, 2003)

9. Social Marketing
• Need for effective communication &
behavioural change (Bartram & Cairncross,
2010)
• Social marketing adapts commercial marketing
techniques to improve welfare (Andreason,
1994)

10. Implications & Directions
• Intervention at schools
– Social marketing based (If drinking Coke is trendy, why not
drinking clean water?)
– Provision of clean water at school
– Encouraging the message to be taken back home
• Obvious?
– ACER data seems to suggest otherwise
– Need for further research