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Watsan activities in Adré

Water and sanitation

People gather to collect clean water at an MEDSF system in Adré transit camp. Chad, April 2025.
© Gabriella Bianchi/MSF
Clean water and sanitation services are necessities for good health.

After a flood, damaged infrastructure for sanitation and water services needs to be quickly fixed. At a new refugee camp, showers and latrines have to be built. And where waterborne diseases are endemic, safe sources for water must be identified.

Around the world, our teams are responding to disease outbreaks that result from unclean water and unsanitary living conditions. They’re also preventing these outbreaks from happening by providing communities with the water, sanitation, and hygiene services they need. Not only because people should be free from these diseases, but because clean water and sanitary living conditions are crucial for reinforcing people’s dignity. 

Video

Supplying clean water in Ethiopia

Negash Yitayew, MEDSF’s environmental health manager in Ethiopia, describes how his team supplies clean water to a hospital in the arid region of Afar. Ethiopia, 2024.
Omar Rashid/MSF
In 2024
 
Israeli authorities are starving Palestinians of water
Gaza-Israel war

MEDSF condemns Israeli attack on water distribution site in Gaza City 

Statement 18 Sep 2025
 
Israeli authorities are starving Palestinians of water
Gaza-Israel war

People gathering water caught up in gunfire in Gaza

Statement 26 Aug 2025
 
Israeli authorities are starving Palestinians of water
Gaza-Israel war

Israeli authorities are starving Palestinians of water in Gaza

Press Release 21 Aug 2025
 
MEDSF emergency response in Chiure
Mozambique

Violence in Cabo Delgado sparks new wave of mass displacement as needs surge

Press Release 21 Aug 2025
 
South Kivu: First came the gold rush, then the cholera. MEDSF responds in Lomera.
Democratic Republic of Congo

MEDSF responds to cholera outbreak following gold discovery in Lomera, South Kivu

Project Update 26 Jun 2025
 
Local health screenings by villagers in Abaiang
Kiribati

Dedicated health professionals improve care for people on Kiribati

Project Update 23 May 2025
 
NFI distribution in Mandalay
Myanmar

Response to devastating earthquake in Myanmar driven by solidarity and dedication

Voices from the Field 9 May 2025
 
Palestinian residents of Jabalya
Gaza-Israel war

Access to water, electricity and fuel blocked in Gaza amidst shattered ceasefire

Press Release 25 Mar 2025
 
Influx of injured refugees and returnees in Renk
South Sudan

South Sudan receives thousands of displaced and injured people fleeing intensified war in Sudan

Press Release 20 Dec 2024