Simple interventions to improve hygiene, such as access to safe water, toilets and soap, could prevent one in five newborn deaths in the developing world.

The sobering finding comes from the non-profit organization WaterAid America, which revealed that nearly half a million babies die in their first month of life each year because they are born into unhygienic conditions. According to WaterAid’s Healthy Start report:¹

“For one in five babies who die during their first month of life in the developing world, simply being washed in clean water and cared for in a clean environment by people who had washed their hands could have prevented their untimely deaths.

In Mali, for instance, one woman in every 17 will lose a baby to infection during her lifetime compared to one in 2,958 in the US.”

Nearly Half of Hospitals in Africa Do Not Have Access to Clean Water

The World Health Organization (WHO) also released a report on water, sanitation and hygiene in the developing world, particularly as it relates to health care facilities. The report revealed that nearly half of hospitals and clinics in Africa do not have access to clean water, and of the 58 percent of facilities that do, only half of them can depend on their water supply being reliably clean.²

In some cases, such as in 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 20 percent of healthcare facilities have access to water. In all of the 54 developing countries included in WHO’s report:³

      •  38 percent of healthcare facilities do not have clean water
      •  19 percent do not have safe toilets
      •  35 percent do not have anywhere for staff or patients to wash their hands with soap

Many were also lacking adequate systems to dispose of health care waste, such as syringes, bandages and personal protective equipment, further promoting the spread of infection. According to WaterAid’s Healthy Start report:⁴

“It is hard to imagine that there is any medical professional, health department official or health minister who is unaware of the risks of exposing babies to infection due to unclean birth conditions and poor hygiene practices.

And yet, women are still giving birth in environments which do not have clean water, soap and sanitation, attended by carers who cannot or do not observe basic hygiene. The links between dirty hands, dirty water and infant mortality have been known for over 150 years, so this is not a situation waiting for an answer, but an injustice waiting for action.”