What is UNICEF doing to help?
Safe water and sanitation is one of UNICEF's main priorities for children
Emergencies
Safe water and sanitation are very important during emergency situations when there is a break down in communities and people have no-one to turn to for help. In an emergency situation like a drought (when there is no rain and water sources dry up so people don’t have access to water) UNICEF acts quickly by taking water to people using trucks or other transport. This is also important in other emergencies when the situation might not be safe for people to go searching for water because of fighting, or water might be polluted.
UNICEF also helps in camps for displaced people during emergencies in the area of sanitation by building latrines as well as providing education about good hygiene practice to lower the risk of disease from spreading, which people can use in their daily lives when the emergency is over, too.
Manuel Freitas is a UNICEF Water and Sanitation Officer. He was in Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami disaster. “This place is a mess,” he said. “We have to do something quickly.”
In the city of Banda Aceh, aid organisations said that only a third of water was reaching victims. Many had to live in camps where thousands of families were in small, crowded areas littered with waste and without enough toilets for them all. Heavy rains meant lots of mosquitoes were around bringing the risk of malaria with them.
Asniwar lives in the grounds of a half built mosque with her three children and husband after the tsunami destroyed their home. She says her children are sick with coughing and diarrhoea. They used to boil their water for drinking and could wash many times a day before the tsunami.
UNICEF helped during this time with water and sanitation relief by building latrines, giving out hygiene kits and installing water treatment plants so people can have safe drinking water. UNICEF also supported the Sanitation Department for the area to carry out solid waste collection and disposal from 23 camps where a total of 20,000 people lived. Families were given hygiene kits including a towel, soap, washing soap, bucket and sarong.
Even though it takes months to go back to normal after a huge disaster, UNICEF believes in the importance of getting clean water and sanitation for all people as soon as possible.
UNICEF is also at hand with Oral Rehydration Therapy which is especially needed during emergencies where cramped conditions mean disease spreads easily, which can lead to diarrhoea.
Emergencies
Safe water and sanitation are very important during emergency situations when there is a break down in communities and people have no-one to turn to for help. In an emergency situation like a drought (when there is no rain and water sources dry up so people don’t have access to water) UNICEF acts quickly by taking water to people using trucks or other transport. This is also important in other emergencies when the situation might not be safe for people to go searching for water because of fighting, or water might be polluted.
UNICEF also helps in camps for displaced people during emergencies in the area of sanitation by building latrines as well as providing education about good hygiene practice to lower the risk of disease from spreading, which people can use in their daily lives when the emergency is over, too.
Manuel Freitas is a UNICEF Water and Sanitation Officer. He was in Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami disaster. “This place is a mess,” he said. “We have to do something quickly.”
In the city of Banda Aceh, aid organisations said that only a third of water was reaching victims. Many had to live in camps where thousands of families were in small, crowded areas littered with waste and without enough toilets for them all. Heavy rains meant lots of mosquitoes were around bringing the risk of malaria with them.
Asniwar lives in the grounds of a half built mosque with her three children and husband after the tsunami destroyed their home. She says her children are sick with coughing and diarrhoea. They used to boil their water for drinking and could wash many times a day before the tsunami.
UNICEF helped during this time with water and sanitation relief by building latrines, giving out hygiene kits and installing water treatment plants so people can have safe drinking water. UNICEF also supported the Sanitation Department for the area to carry out solid waste collection and disposal from 23 camps where a total of 20,000 people lived. Families were given hygiene kits including a towel, soap, washing soap, bucket and sarong.
Even though it takes months to go back to normal after a huge disaster, UNICEF believes in the importance of getting clean water and sanitation for all people as soon as possible.
UNICEF is also at hand with Oral Rehydration Therapy which is especially needed during emergencies where cramped conditions mean disease spreads easily, which can lead to diarrhoea.
It is really important to have clean water in an area. Human faeces in water pollutes it the most and badly affects people’s health. Other deadly pollutants in water are arsenic, fluoride and nitrates.
Have you ever walked beside a river or canal and seen dead fish floating on the surface? Dead fish in a river or canal usually means that there are poisonous substances in the water, or that bacteria has taken away the oxygen that fish need to breathe. Rivers get polluted when industries empty their waste into it. Farming can also pollute our rivers as farmers use chemicals that sink into the ground and sometimes drain into rivers. Our drinking water often comes from these same rivers.
UNICEF tests filters in areas where water is known to have poisons in it, like Bangladesh and Viet Nam where there is a lot of arsenic. UNICEF helps to develop new ways to get water, like from rainwater.
Working with others
UNICEF works with governments and other organisations to get support for developing child-friendly water and sanitation programmes, like education hygiene at schools.
UNICEF also works with communities to build systems they can manage and afford. It’s important to work with everyone in the community, for example:
UNICEF also helps in camps for displaced people during emergencies in the area of sanitation by building latrines as well as providing education about good hygiene practice to lower the risk of disease from spreading, which people can use in their daily lives when the emergency is over, too.
Manuel Freitas is a UNICEF Water and Sanitation Officer. He was in Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami disaster. “This place is a mess,” he said. “We have to do something quickly.”
In the city of Banda Aceh, aid organisations said that only a third of water was reaching victims. Many had to live in camps where thousands of families were in small, crowded areas littered with waste and without enough toilets for them all. Heavy rains meant lots of mosquitoes were around bringing the risk of malaria with them.
Asniwar lives in the grounds of a half built mosque with her three children and husband after the tsunami destroyed their home. She says her children are sick with coughing and diarrhoea. They used to boil their water for drinking and could wash many times a day before the tsunami.
UNICEF helped during this time with water and sanitation relief by building latrines, giving out hygiene kits and installing water treatment plants so people can have safe drinking water. UNICEF also supported the Sanitation Department for the area to carry out solid waste collection and disposal from 23 camps where a total of 20,000 people lived. Families were given hygiene kits including a towel, soap, washing soap, bucket and sarong.
Even though it takes months to go back to normal after a huge disaster, UNICEF believes in the importance of getting clean water and sanitation for all people as soon as possible.
UNICEF is also at hand with Oral Rehydration Therapy which is especially needed during emergencies where cramped conditions mean disease spreads easily, which can lead to diarrhoea.
UNICEF also helps in camps for displaced people during emergencies in the area of sanitation by building latrines as well as providing education about good hygiene practice to lower the risk of disease from spreading, which people can use in their daily lives when the emergency is over, too.
Manuel Freitas is a UNICEF Water and Sanitation Officer. He was in Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami disaster. “This place is a mess,” he said. “We have to do something quickly.”
In the city of Banda Aceh, aid organisations said that only a third of water was reaching victims. Many had to live in camps where thousands of families were in small, crowded areas littered with waste and without enough toilets for them all. Heavy rains meant lots of mosquitoes were around bringing the risk of malaria with them.
Asniwar lives in the grounds of a half built mosque with her three children and husband after the tsunami destroyed their home. She says her children are sick with coughing and diarrhoea. They used to boil their water for drinking and could wash many times a day before the tsunami.
UNICEF helped during this time with water and sanitation relief by building latrines, giving out hygiene kits and installing water treatment plants so people can have safe drinking water. UNICEF also supported the Sanitation Department for the area to carry out solid waste collection and disposal from 23 camps where a total of 20,000 people lived. Families were given hygiene kits including a towel, soap, washing soap, bucket and sarong.
Even though it takes months to go back to normal after a huge disaster, UNICEF believes in the importance of getting clean water and sanitation for all people as soon as possible.
UNICEF is also at hand with Oral Rehydration Therapy which is especially needed during emergencies where cramped conditions mean disease spreads easily, which can lead to diarrhoea.
Pollution
It is really important to have clean water in an area. Human faeces in water pollutes it the most and badly affects people’s health. Other deadly pollutants in water are arsenic, fluoride and nitrates.
Have you ever walked beside a river or canal and seen dead fish floating on the surface? Dead fish in a river or canal usually means that there are poisonous substances in the water, or that bacteria has taken away the oxygen that fish need to breathe. Rivers get polluted when industries empty their waste into it. Farming can also pollute our rivers as farmers use chemicals that sink into the ground and sometimes drain into rivers. Our drinking water often comes from these same rivers.
UNICEF tests filters in areas where water is known to have poisons in it, like Bangladesh and Viet Nam where there is a lot of arsenic. UNICEF helps to develop new ways to get water, like from rainwater.
Working with others
UNICEF works with governments and other organisations to get support for developing child-friendly water and sanitation programmes, like education hygiene at schools.
UNICEF also works with communities to build systems they can manage and afford. It’s important to work with everyone in the community, for example:
- UNICEF teaches women about new systems because they are usually in charge of getting water for their families and duties like cooking for which hygiene is vital.
- UNICEF works with traditional leaders, community organisations and other important people who others listen to so they can encourage people to use and look after new systems.
- UNICEF makes sure all new facilities are child-friendly so children can use them safely.
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