As many as 1.5 million children die of diarrhoea in India every year, a report released by the Centre for Science and Environment revealed on Tuesday. Its latest publication, “Body Burden 2015 - State of India’s Health” delves into the link between environment and health, PTI reported. According to the report, 37.7 million Indians are affected by water-borne diseases every year.

The CSE report draws attention to the fact that India failed to meet one of its Millennium Development Goals – while malnutrition should have reduced to 26%, the country falls short of this by 7%. The report also points out that India suffers an estimated loss of Rs 36,600 crore every year because of water-borne diseases.

“Children who are constantly exposed to faecal microorganisms demonstrate Environmental Enteric Dysfunction or EED, where the gut becomes permeable and brings microbial products in contact with blood. This leads to activation of the immune system, which down-regulates growth factors in the body and leads to stunting. States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where more people defecate in open, have more malnourished children, comparatively,” the report said.