Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Providing adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is a key public health challenge. Access to safe and sufficient water and modern sanitation, along with maintaining good hygiene, are crucial to human health, well-being, dignity and development. International Medical Corps works to provide these basic human needs, regardless of how challenging the conditions may be. With hundreds of thousands of deaths each year caused by unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and insufficient hygiene practices, International Medical Corps prioritizes the prevention of WASH-related diseases as part of our comprehensive approach to improving health. In doing this, we focus on:
- Providing and improving reliable, safe and clean water access;
- Providing and improving sanitation; and
- Promoting safe hygiene practices.
International Medical Corps implements WASH projects across a range of humanitarian settings, including in communities, refugee camps, schools and health facilities. We work throughout the disaster cycle, from the initial emergency response through recovery and into the development phase, responding to natural disasters, outbreaks of disease such as cholera and Ebola, mass population movements resulting from conflict, and other complex emergencies. Throughout all of our programs, we work closely with communities and relevant authorities to develop and implement sustainable WASH interventions.
Areas of Focus
Overview
International Medical Corps works to provide sufficient safe, accessible and sustainable water for personal, domestic, livelihood and institutional uses in emergency as well as non-emergency situations.
Key Stats
Overview
Widely recognized as the most cost-effective intervention in the water and sanitation sector, hygiene promotion is integrated into all of our WASH projects, enabling communities to better protect themselves from the threat of infectious diseases. Simple handwashing with soap can reduce diarrheal disease by nearly half and respiratory infections by about one-quarter. International Medical Corps promotes hygiene awareness and handwashing in communities, schools and health facilities to protect against infectious disease.
Key Stats
Overview
In 2025, 3.4 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation, fueling diarrhea, cholera and other diseases while contaminating water sources and exacerbating poverty. International Medical Corps provides emergency sanitation facilities to prevent outbreaks and collaborates with communities to establish safe and sustainable systems.
Key Stats
Overview
WASH is critical in health facilities, where the risk of patients contracting hospital-acquired infections can often be attributed to a lack of clean water and hygiene. Our WASH work focuses on strengthening healthcare service delivery at the facility level by establishing safe water supplies and modern sanitation infrastructure and handwashing facilities, as well as on training healthcare staff in infection prevention and control.
Key Stats
Overview
Diarrheal disease, closely linked with malnutrition and poor WASH, is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 in developing countries—even though it is both preventable and treatable. Globally, about half of undernutrition is attributed to infections resulting from inadequate WASH practices. WASH-related diseases such as diarrhea inhibit nutrient absorption and lead to undernutrition and stunting, which in turn lower resistance to infections and increase risks of dying from diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections. To break this vicious cycle of recurring sickness, International Medical Corps integrates WASH into our nutrition and health interventions.
Key Stats
After Monsoon Flooding, Clean Water Is Everything
When monsoon flooding hit Pakistan, infrastructure was severely damaged or destroyed, leaving villagers without sources of clean water or modern sanitation. Since then, our WASH team has worked tirelessly to repair and rebuild these systems in flood-affected areas.
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