Refugees are at high risk for communicable diseases due to overcrowding and poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions. Handwashing with soap removes pathogens from hands and reduces disease risk. A hepatitis E outbreak in the refugee camps of Maban County, South Sudan in 2012 prompted increased hygiene promotion and improved provision of soap, handwashing stations, and latrines. We conducted a study 1 year after the outbreak to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the refugees in Maban County.
This report applies the life-cycle costs approach (LCCA) to the provision of water services in two UN refugee camps, Bambasi in Ethiopia and Kounoungou in Chad. It is based on cost data from financial reports in Geneva and both camps and on service-level data collected through the UNHCR monitoring system and on site through water point surveys.
The purpose of the study was (1) to better understand the structure, magnitude and drivers of the cost of providing a targeted level of water service to refugees, and (2) to reflect on the applicability of LCCA in the UNHCR monitoring framework and the potential for implementing it in systematically.
This document contains guidelines to help WASH actors in refugee settings select household water treatment products. The document includes an overview of: • Categories of HWTS; • Health benefits; • When to use HWTS and existing decision tree; • Criteria regarding HWT to be considered by the field; • Mandatory components; • UNHCR Checklist for HWTS; • HWT concerns; • Household water treatment cards; • Safe water storage;• Further reading; • Acknowledgement
The SMU team conducted five sampling missions to UNHCR refugee camps in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Djibouti, and Liberia. Overall, these missions were considered a success with 17 camps, 7 villages, and a few additional sites visited. The team collected 213 camp samples and 229 total samples for analyses in the laboratory. Camp conditions and source water characteristics varied widely amongst the five countries but also within the camps themselves.
This document looks at drinking water, sanitation and renewable energy solutions and options in three camps in Dolo Odo with recommendations and conclusions.
The choice of sanitation technology in humanitarian crisis is based on various factors including the terrain, social and cultural norms and agency experience. There is the continued need for humanitarian response mechanisms to factor the environmental impact and sustainability of the technologies used in the provision of safe water supply and sanitation to affected communities. The acceptability of using ecological sanitation technologies such as Urine Diversion Dry Toilets (UDDT) in refugee contexts needs significant exploration. Using refugee camps in Dollo Ado as a case study, this paper outlines how the UDDT technology has been implemented in the context of protracted refugee camps, the successes and the areas needing further exploration to make it better able to be adopted across various refugee programmes and contexts.
Current emergency safe water guidelines are based on little field evidence. We launched an observational study on chlorine decay in the Azraq refugee camp, Jordan in July-August 2014 in order to: i) develop evidence-based guidelines for centralized batch chlorination in humanitarian operations; and ii) identify factors affecting the safe water chain. This study builds on earlier work from South Sudan and adds to the evidence base that study initiated.
Close to half a million refugees live in Dadaab, Kenya and rely on groundwater from the Merti Aquifer. Preliminary hydrogeological mapping indicates over exploitation of the fresh water aquifer could result in salt water intrusion, which would put the security of water supply for the refugee camps and host population at risk. UNHCR together with University of Neuchâtel has embarked on a comprehensive study of the Merti Aquifer including remote monitoring, and numerical modelling of the aquifer in order to develop a sustainable groundwater management plan for the aquifer which supplies water to all the refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya.
The report examines the feasibility of a wide range of standard sanitation technologies in addition to sanitation innovations in refugee contexts (including miniaturized biogas, reinvented toilets, new processor technologies, SMS dispatching, pay per use toilets, sale of by-products). Technologies were evaluated based on upfront investment cost; technology viability, suitable size and transportability; flexibility and resilience; and value for money.
This report presents a methodology to cost water services that has been adapted from the life-cycle costs approach (LCCA) and looks at its applicability to refugee settings.
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