Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Americas
www.ifrc.org Saving lives, changing minds.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Americas Context Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that each year there are 150,000 deaths from waterborne diseases, particularly among children under 5 years of age. Water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for disease prevention and public health, and can contribute significantly to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability to diseases. Although the region has experienced an increase in potable water coverage from 33 per cent in 1960 to 95 per cent in 2015; 34 million people still lack access to water. Sanitation coverage presents even lower levels. Despite considerable progress in the region, only 83 per cent of the population has sanitation facilities, leaving 18 million people without access to sanitation. Ecuadorian Red Cross volunteer evaluates the quality of water consumed by people in the communities served. Ecuadorian Red Cross Cover photo: Marianne Joseph drinks fresh water from a tank set up by the French Red Cross in Camp Dihaushtu, Port-au-Prince. Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross
IFRC WASH What we do Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness and Response (meeting ‘acute’ needs)
Recovery
NS Volunteers and staff, Emergency WASH capacities
NS Volunteers WASH capacities
Development (meeting ‘chronic’ needs)
NS capacities to provide equitable access to sustainable WASH capacities
Areas of Focus
Wash in Development, in Emergencies, Public Health and Urban Context
Development WASH The IFRC Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI) promotes a versatile approach that enables National Societies to implement sustainable and large-scale water and sanitation programs. Between 2005 and 2015, more than 15 million people benefited from the initiative worldwide.
Clean, reliable sources of water reduce the spread of cholera and other waterborne illnesses, and make it possible to do everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning and washing
What we do Provide technical assistance for Red Cross WASH projects Provide guidance and tools for project planning Guide and coordinate data collection and reporting Strengthen National Society, government and community WASH capacities Support Red Cross WASH proposal design and development Support Red Cross WASH project implementation: • By preparing Red Cross National Societies, communities and local authorities to effectively treat water at household level • Creation of WASH committees to manage community water systems • Construction and rehabilitation of community water distribution systems • Capacity building on use and maintenance of water treatment plants • Implementation of behaviour change messages through hygiene promotion activities • Monitor and evaluate Red Cross WASH projects • Provide training to Red Cross National Societies, governments and communities • Support Red Cross National Societies to develop sustainable Red Cross WASH business initiatives and contracts • • • • • •
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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WASH in Emergencies
WASH in Public Health
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) promotes and coordinates disaster response capacity at national, regional and global levels, including the mobilization of qualified volunteer teams, as well as engineers, technical professionals and hygiene promotion specialists, when an emergency so requires.
IFRC and National Societies support disease prevention and epidemic control with a focus on ensuring an equal emphasis on hygiene promotion, sanitation and safe water coverage.
What we do • Promote, advocate and provide technical support to increase the capacity of Red Cross National Societies in the region to prevent water-borne diseases and respond effectively to water, sanitation and hygiene needs during emergency operations • Support Red Cross national and regional intervention teams with a WASH focus • Collaborate and coordinate with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), OXFAM, UNICEF and with the Regional Group on Water and Sanitation for Latin America, WASHLAC. • Coordinate response and recovery efforts within the Red Cross Movement, and with donors and partners • Response in small scale WASH emergency operations (2,000 beneficiaries/400 families) – using IFRC Disaster Response Kit 2 - providing water treatment at household level, in communities that do not have a central treatment or storage capacity • Response in small/medium scale WASH emergency operations (5,000 beneficiaries/ 2,500 families) – using IFRC Disaster Response Kit 5 - providing treatment and distribution of water for small populations, treating up to 75,000 litres of water a day. This can be expanded to serve a larger population if needed • Hygiene promotion in communities • Regional Response Unit – specialised staff or volunteers and equipment to support WASH during the initial stage of a large-scale operation, until the arrival of the global Emergency Response Unit
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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in The Americas
What we do • Plan WASH interventions for emerging and re-emerging disease outbreaks, environmental emergencies, or in situations of crisis as a result of violence
Urban WASH IFRC support to National Societies in urban contexts.
What we do • Develop strategies for WASH implementation in urban settings • Conduct research and development for urban WASH
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) promotes and coordinates disaster response capacity at national, regional and global levels
National simulation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion given to the inhabitants of the communities on hand washing. Salvadoran Red Cross
What has been achieved In Emergencies
Through Longer-term Programming
Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (GWSI)
Between 2011 and 2016, the WASH component was activated in emergency operations that reached over 1.5 million beneficiaries, as indicated in the table below: Year
Emergency operations including WASH
Beneficiaries
NS volunteers trained in WASH
2011
11
56,965
168
2012
13
343,610
143
2013
9
190,342
0
2014
9
385,675
116
2015
22
122,389
32
2016
16
534,834
0
Grand Total
80
1,633,815
459
Between 2005 and 2014, the IFRC Global Water Sanitation Initiative (GWSI) in the Americas has carried out different initiatives with the support of over 20 partners, with the following results:
+20 donors
64
projects
742,202
16
countries
beneficiaries of WASH programming through the GWSI
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
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Sharing water, the gift of life, in Haiti Following the devastation of Haiti after Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, the Dominican Red Cross mobilized 29 of its staff with three water trucks and five water treatment plants. For four weeks, they worked across the border in Haiti distributing more than 700,000 liters of clean water to communities affected by the hurricane. “When the hurricane hit, we knew that clean water would be critical for the Haitian people and that the capacity of the Haiti Red Cross would be surpassed,” explained Gustavo Lara, executive director of the Dominican Red Cross. “We had 29 water purification plants ready to be sent across the border, and teams trained on how to use them and how to teach communities good hygiene practices.” The water provided by the neighboring Dominicans made all the difference to Haitians who were impacted by Hurricane Matthew. Clean, reliable sources of water reduce the spread of cholera and other water-borne illnesses, and make it possible to do everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning and washing. Dominicans also understand the local context in Haiti. The journey from the capital of Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince is only 6 hours by road, across the island of Hispaniola. In 2004 when both countries were severely affected by devastating floods, several water emergency response units were deployed to assist thousands of people. In 2007, the emergency water units were refurbished and adapted into locally sustainable water units run by technical support teams, and stationed in the Dominican Republic to build local capacity for future emergency response. Given this investment, when Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, everything was ready for deployment. Jose Dipre is a technical expert in water and sanitation with the Dominican Red Cross. He led the team on the ground in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew. “In Les Cayes we worked with the regional Red Cross committee. It was a big moment for us when we purified the first 3,000 liters of water,” he explains. “We worked hard to make this happen. The local Red Cross staff here now understand how to carry this forward, without our assistance”, he says. Red Cross volunteers in a field hospital in Carrefour, Haiti, encourage children to wash their hands as part of a hygiene promotion campaign. IFRC
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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in The Americas
The rain often made it difficult for the trucks to distribute the water in certain areas, but they still managed to reach places that are extremely remote and were in desperate need of help.
Sanitation even in the worst conditions - a story from a Red Cross camp in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake Elie Michel tried to keep his balance on narrow wooden boards as he filled the tank. He explained, “We waited for the truck to come and pump the waste from these tanks. We added water to liquefy the residue, to make it easier to drain the tank. Then another truck moved the empty tanks and we put in the new ones.” Elie was employed by the Spanish Red Cross, which provided water and sanitation services in the thirty-two camps in Portau-Prince. He is proud of the work he and
People collect water from the water tank set up by the Red Cross in a makeshift camp of people left homeless by the devastating 12 January 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti. Jakob Dall/IFRC
his colleagues did. “We worked as a team: the controller, the technician and I. We installed toilets in the camps and provided maintenance.” Despite Elie’s enthusiasm, the job was frustrating. He explained: “We had to repair some of the toilets because people destroyed them. This was frustrating after all the work we put into building them”.
In some camps, sanitation committees were established to encourage residents to maintain facilities installed by the Red Cross. Hygiene promotion activities were also organised to ensure proper use of sanitation facilities.
Contact information:
Maria Tallarico Head, Health and Care maria.tallarico@ifrc.org  Omar Robinson Senior Officer, WASH omar.robinson@ifrc.org Julie Hoare Head, Partnerships and Resource Development julie.hoare@ifrc.org
Š International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2017