Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. A third of the world’s population lives without basic sanitation infrastructure like a toilet.
Every day 4,000 children die from illnesses like diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera caused by dirty water and unhygienic living conditions. We can’t fight malnutrition without tackling the diseases that contribute to it. As part of our integrated approach to hunger, we’re getting safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services to communities in need all over the world.
What We Do
Provide Access to Safe Water
During emergencies, ACF trucks water into affected areas and installs storage tanks and reservoirs. Where water is scarce or unsafe, we drill and decontaminate wells, install hand-pumps, protect natural springs, tap aquifers, rehabilitate damaged infrastructure, and pipe water into hard-to-reach villages and health centers.
Promote Sanitation & Hygiene
To prevent outbreaks of disease during a crisis, ACF’s teams distribute hygiene kits and build latrines and hand-washing stations. In communities at risk, we construct water filters made from basic materials and teach healthy practices like hand-washing, cooking with clean utensils, and drawing water from protected sources.
Ensure Lasting Change
ACF’s commitment to community participation ensures long-term capacity: we train community-based water committees to manage their water and sanitation infrastructure themselves, and organize village health teams to model good sanitation and hygiene practices for their communities long after we leave an area.
Recent WASH News
January 31, 2012
In the following TEDx video, David Damberger of Engineers Without Borders broaches the subject of failure as it relates to international aid and development. Watch the video and read on for Action Against Hunger’s take on what he gets right—and where his argument needs some elaboration.
... Read
December 6, 2011
Charmaine Brett is our Desk Officer for Pakistan and Nigeria and has worked in emergency humanitarian relief for some of the world’s top agencies in countries across the globe.... Read
November 18, 2011
Three months after devastating monsoon rains caused extensive flooding in southern Pakistan for the second consecutive year, Pakistan faces a critical shortage of emergency funding—despite the government’s request for international assistance—with millions of in need of critical support as winter approaches.... Read
October 31, 2011
Following torrential rains and flooding triggered by a tropical depression in Guatemala, more than 16,700 families have been affected in the worst hit coastal areas of Escuintla, Santa Rosa, Jutiapa and San Marco, according to an assessment carried out by humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger | ACF International.... Read
We're a Top Nonprofit
Action Against Hunger has been named one of the top nonprofits of 2011 by a panel of experts rating international charities.
