Responding to Coronavirus

Updated July 12, 2023

We deployed our handwashing and hygiene expertise to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in more than 30 countries. 

Please find below details on the Covid-19 response programs made possible by your support. 

This page will be updated regularly. Stay tuned.

Handwashing promotion and Coronavirus prevention campaigns are well underway in Bangladesh. WaterAid teams have:

• Installed public handwashing stations in railway and bus stations
• Launched a campaign called ‘Fight Corona United’ that has reached 22 million online so far and counting
• Reached millions across health centers, markets and public places about handwashing and hygiene
• Provided hygiene promotion in 25 public toilets 
• 100,000 people reached with handwashing facilities
   

Image: WaterAid/Cambodia

Our team in Cambodia used mobile signage to reinforce the importance of handwashing.

Image: WaterAid/Cambodia

Team members also visited local markets and shops to provide hand sanitizer and guidance.

Image: WaterAid/eSwatini

With support from ABInBEV (Eswatini Beverages), WaterAid Eswatini today provided five group hand washing stations in rural areas as well as hygiene supplies for market vendors.  Local stakeholders attending the event included the National Disaster Management Agency, members of Parliament, Community leaders and ABInBEV representatives.
 
A rural population of about 150,000 people will use these facilities and the Local Governments (Tinkhundla) and community leaders have committed to maintaining the facilities for sustained handwashing practice after the COVID-19 pandemic is resolved.

Image: WaterAid/Zerihun Kassa

The WaterAid team Ethiopia has distributed 50 water tanks with 5,000 liter capacity, 2,500 liters of alcohol and more than 1,000 bars of laundry soaps to health centers and temporary COVID-19 treatment sites in Addis Ababa, the country's capital city.

The WaterAid team in Ghana has produced a social media campaign to quash some common myths about cures and preventative measures.

May 2021 - we are responding to the dire situation in India. COVID-19 is surging in India and health centers are overwhelmed. They need clean water to function.

As part of our emergency response we will: 

• Ensure 50 rural health centers have access to clean water and toilets

With your support, we can deliver clean water, toilets and handwashing facilities to critical points of care and in rural communities facing acute water shortages.

Your support is crucial to get relief to health centers overwhelmed by the demand for care. 

Donate now

• Provide emergency water supply for +12,000 people facing extreme water scarcity

As the dry season approaches, rural villages—already stressed by an influx of people fleeing urban centers—are struggling to find clean water. WaterAid will provide emergency water supplies throughout the dry months, ensuring access to water for more than 12,000 people across 125 settlements. This could mean repairing existing infrastructure, installing new wells or, if needed, supplying a tanker to haul water from a reliable source.

If you can, please support this vital work

Phase I: Due to the remote communities and villages in Madagacar, two WaterAid members of staff conducted a road trip to ensure that as many people as possible know about the virus and are informed about the best methods of prevention. 

When asked why it was so important, Liva, the driver responded

Phase II: As the scale of this pandemic becomes clear, our team in Madagascar have taken additional steps. Taking advantage of the empty schools that are closed because of the virus, we have been working to disinfect the schools so they can be used as temporary shelters for the homeless population. Some team members are donating some of their own personal hygiene supplies to equip these temporary shelters. 

WaterAid Malawi handed out handwashing facilities and other supplies to Bwaila Hospital and Lilongwe Main Market to help in the prevention of #COVID19. The team also distributed leaflets and posters around the city to raise awareness.

Image: WaterAid/Mozambique

The WaterAid team in Mozmbique made use of campaign cars to broadcast educational messages in 43 municipal districts. This was launched on May, 15 with loudhailer hygiene and prevention broadcasts as well as posters. 

Our team in Myanmar has used a mix of tactics to tackle Coronavirus.

• Promoting hygiene and handwashing in communities and factories through a partnership with the H&M Foundation
• Boosting hygiene messages on Facebook in coordination with the Ministry of Health, reaching more than three million people in the first two days
• Providing personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitizer and soap to five hospitals

Our team in Nepal have undertaken a variety of initiatives, ranging from donating PPE to support governmental departments with messaging and radio jingles. Details below:

• WaterAid Nepal has supported National Health Education Information and Communication Centre (NHEICC) of the Ministry of Health and Population to design posters / flyers for raising awareness about Covid-19.
• WaterAid Nepal launches 50 contactless handwashing stations in Kathmandu Valley and 25 in Lahan Municipality, Siraha district.
• Washing hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly is crucial to stopping the spread of Covid-19.
• NHEICC approved flyers and posters on Covid-19 were translated and redesigned in local languages i.e Tharu and Maithali and distributed in Siraha and Bardiya districts.
• The preventive messages on Covid-19 have been widely circulated using digital platforms at the National and local Level.
• NHEICC approved Radio jingles with preventive messages on Covid-19 were translated and recorded into local languages (Tharu and Maithali) with appropriate background score using locally-available professional voice artists. It is being aired in 4 local FM stations in district (2 in Bardiya and 2 in Siraha). In some of our working areas where they do not have access to FM, we have started with Miking with the same radio jingle. 
• The team produced 100 posters with standees and placed them in gas stations, bus stands, public toilets and ward offices to raise awareness about the pandemic in Kathmandu, Kirtipur and Lalitpur.
• NHEICC-approved posters were printed and distributed to Sajha Yatayat bus transportation, which goes to 70 routes. 
• Distributed personal protection kits to sanitation workers in Kathmandu, Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Kirtipur Municipality.
• Supplied 100 PPEs and 50 5-liter jars of disinfectant and 17,000 surgical masks to the Ministry of Health and Population.
• Distributed 900 bars of soap and 850 masks for the Dalit communities in Lahan Municipality and promoted handwashing. 

WaterAid's team in Nigeria has come up with a robust social media campaign on the importance of thorough handwashing.

Pakistan has a multi-pronged approach, combining education, signage, an increased number of facilities and social distancing techniques. 

• A mass media campaign in coordination with the government has reached 20 million people nationwide
• WaterAid is building 60 handwashing facilities across the country, mostly in high traffic areas, including the largest hospital in Islamabad.
• There has also been a push of more handwashing education sessions in a socially-safe manner. 

Image: WaterAid/James Kiyimba

WaterAid Uganda Country Director Jane Mselle Sembuche and Samuel Sserunkuma, Deputy Executive Director of the Kampala Capital City Authority, demonstrate how a handwashing tank works. WaterAid provided the city with more than 60 handwashing station in public places. These 150-liter tanks are fitted with water-efficient taps and foot operateds valve to minimize contamination.

Image: WaterAid/Zambia

The Stand Here campaign focuses on social distancing in grocery stores, cafes and other public places.

Zambian pop star Pompi recorded a video for WaterAid.