Water, sanitation and hygiene for population at risk

Access to water and sanitation is one of the major challenges for the 21st
century. According to WHO (2004), 1.1 billion people do not have access to
safe water and 2.4 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation
facilities. As a consequence around 4 million people, the majority of who are
children, die every year from water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases.
Water is not only an important factor of public health, but also of general
livelihoods and development: crop production, livestock production, industry,
commerce and daily life depend on access to water. Water-supply and sanitation
conditions therefore directly affect health and food security and are key
components in the fight against Hunger and Malnutrition. For 25 years, in line
with its vocation of fighting Hunger, the Action contre la Faim international
network has been implementing field programmes aimed at supporting populations
in humanitarian situations, along with research and technical development in
order to optimise its interventions. This book is the result of this
experience and presents methods and techniques of intervention, not only to
provide and ensure access to water- groundwater prospecting, drilling, well
digging, constructing spring catchments and gravity supply systems, treatment
and distribution of surface water and collection of rainwater-but also
sanitary measures, hygiene promotion, capacity building of communities and
local partners, and much more. This manual is the second edition of
Alimentation en eau des populations menacées, by Eric Drouart and Jean-Michel
Vouillamoz, published in 1999; it has been deeply reviewed, revised, updated
and extended, under the coordination of Hubert Sémiond and Francisco Gonzalez,
with more than 60% of new information. It focuses on efficient and concrete
action, as well as on context and needs analysis. It is intended for those
concerned by programmes involving water supply, sanitation, hygiene promotion
and local capacity building.