Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Providing adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is a key public health challenge in today’s world. Access to safe and sufficient water and improved sanitation, as well as maintaining good hygiene, is crucial to human health, well-being, dignity and development. International Medical Corps works to provide these most basic human needs, no matter how challenging the conditions. 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 health interventions. In doing this we focus on the following key areas:
- 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 settings, including communities, refugee camps, schools and health facilities. We work throughout the disaster cycle, during the initial emergency response, through the recovery phase and into development, responding to natural disasters; outbreaks of disease, such as cholera and Ebola; mass population movement as a result of conflict; and other complex emergencies. Throughout all of our programs, we actively engage communities and relevant authorities in the development and implementation of sustainable WASH interventions.
Areas of Focus
Overview
International Medical Corps works to provide sufficient, safe, physically 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 more cost-effective intervention in the water and sanitation sector, hygiene promotion is integrated into all of our WASH projects, so communities can better protect themselves from the threat of infectious diseases. Simple handwashing with soap and water can reduce the incidence of diarrheal disease by nearly half, and respiratory disease by about one-quarter. We promote hygiene awareness and handwashing messages within communities, schools and health facilities.
Key Stats
Overview
Despite the UN’s recognition of sanitation as a human right, the Millennium Development Goals, which ended in 2015, missed its target by 700 million people, with 1 in 3 people living without adequate sanitation. Of the 2.4 billion people that did not have access to improved sanitation in 2015, more than 1 billion are forced to defecate in the open (UNICEF and WHO, 2016). Without adequate sanitation, communities are highly vulnerable to diarrhea and other diseases, and risk contaminating their drinking water. International Medical Corps provides sanitation facilities during emergencies to prevent the outbreak of diseases and works with communities to build sustainable, safe and adequate sanitation.
Key Stats
Overview
Water, sanitation and hygiene is critical in health facilities, where the risk of patients contracting hospital-acquired infections remains high and can often be attributed to inadequate WASH. As a public health-focused organization, International Medical Corps’ goal is to ensure quality WASH services in health facilities. Our WASH work focuses on strengthening healthcare service delivery at the facility level by establishing a safe water supply, sanitation infrastructure and handwashing facilities, as well as training healthcare staff in infection prevention and control.
Key Stats
Overview
Diarrheal disease is closely linked with malnutrition and poor WASH, and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 in developing countries, despite the fact it is both preventable and treatable. Globally, about 50 percent of undernutrition is associated with infections caused by poor WASH practices. WASH-related diseases like 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 with nutrition and health interventions.
Key Stats
Building Healthier Futures with Clean Water and Hygiene In Nepali Schools
Dhading is a beautiful region of Nepal—an explosion of greens during the monsoon season, when the rain buckets down in short, drenching showers that saturate the countryside and fill the area’s streams and rivers. But even though the land is saturated, the people of Dhading lack much of what they need for safe drinking water, including water access points, piping and reservoir tanks, and the knowledge of water management necessary to provide reliable, clean water year-round.
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