Does water and sanitation effects on children’s physical development? Evidence from Indonesia Family life Survey (IFLS) 2014

Department of Economics, Universitas Indonesia, 16424, Depok, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: israulhasanah8@gmail.com

Abstract

Chronic malnutrition (Stunting) is one of the most serious health problems in Indonesia. Almost 8.9 million or 37.2 % of all Indonesian children under 5 were stunted in 2013. The negative impact as a result of stunting in early of life associated with high mortality, decrease cognitive development, poor school performance, and reduce productivity as adults. Stunting associated with long-term nutrition intake and the burden of diseases. Around 56 % of malnutrition is associated with inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Conversely Investing to increase safe drinking water and proper sanitation provides many benefits for eliminating stunting. This paper analyzes how a poor water and sanitation affect a child’s stunting in Indonesia. Using logistic regression methods and large-scale data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2014, we selected 2835 children aged 0-5 years old in 2014 who considered stunting. The study finds that they are significantly associated between proper sanitation and number of stunting under 5. Children who live in a household with lack sanitation have the possibility of stunted 0.645 times higher than children living in the household with proper sanitation. While children living in unprotected water more likely to being stunted 0.874 times but statistically significant.