Since 2004, ACTED has been working to prevent the regular pandemics of cholera and water-borne diseases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, thanks to the implementation of projects of access to clean water and to sanitation facilities for the local populations.

Indeed, limited access of the populations to clean water and precarious hygiene conditions lead to regular cholera pan-demics and other water-borne diseases in DRC, notably in the Eastern part of the country and in the Katanga and Southern Kivu provinces where ACTED is active.

For the past few years, ACTED has developed a specifi c expertise in assessing the needs and off ering adequate solutions in terms of access to potable water for the populations in the country. ACTED has chosen to intervene in the returning areas welcoming refugees from Tanzania and Zambia, such as in Katanga which has seen the returning of over 20,000 people for the past two years.

ACTED supports the access of local populations to clean water by working on natural water sources and constructing wells in the villages for our benefitiaries. These facilities are then transferred to the populations once a maintenance and management committee has been set up to follow up the project. ACTED also implements action in the sanitation fi eld to fulfi ll the immediate needs of the populations, by constructing collective latrines or by providing families with the means to build their own private facilities. Finally, each of these projects comes along with soft components of basic hygiene education aimed at all layers of the population and which are most eff ective in preventing diseases.

ACTED has been implementing such programmes since 2004, notably with the construction and the rehabilitation of over 8 kilometers of water conveyances in the town of Baraka on the Tanganyika lake, and the setting up of 40 water fountains throughout the town.

The very same water and sanitation enhancement activities have been implemented by ACTED in Katanga since January 2009. ACTED strives today to extend these impacting projects to all provinces where massive influxes of returnee populations represent worrying sanitation risks.