Green plants help filter water, reduce mortality in children due to diarrhea

There are many trees at the water source that help improve water quality, thereby reducing the rate of children dying from diarrhea. That is the result of a global scale study by US scientists published in the October 9 issue of Nature Communications.

Scientists have examined the health of 300,000 children and the quality of water resources in 35 countries, including Bangladesh, Nigeria and Colombia. The results show that if the watershed area has more trees, children are healthier.

If the watershed area has more trees, children are healthier.

Researcher Brendan Fisher of the University of Vermon, USA, said the study results clearly demonstrate that a healthy ecosystem can directly support human health and social welfare.

Therefore, he stressed the need to double the protection of water resources according to appropriate circumstances as an investment in public health. According to the study, an increase in the number of plants growing near water sources in rural areas can improve water quality effectively.

Meanwhile, researcher Diego Herrera, a co-author of the study, said these findings suggest that forests and other natural ecosystems can support traditional water filtration systems as well. like "offset" for poor infrastructure.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), although it is a preventable disease, diarrhea still kills more than 500,000 children under 5 years of age each year and is one of the leading causes of death in Vietnam. Young with malaria and pneumonia. The lack of sanitation and clean water causes nearly 1.7 billion cases of diarrhea in children every year.