Emergency WASH Support to Affected Populations in Afghanistan The humanitarian outlook for 2022 remains fragile. With the onset of spring, highly contagious diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) are anticipated, and April saw a significant increase in the number of AWD cases across the country when compared with the 3 year average (Data from the Health Management Information System (HMIS) indicates the general trend of the risk of diarrhoeal disease is increasing, showing an increase of about 30% above the past 3-year average). REACH also identified 14 provinces as being in catastrophic situation (severity phase 5) for under 5 AWD. Transmission and infection rates of these illnesses will likely be exacerbated by seasonal flooding and drought which further reduce the availability of safe water, impacting both the health and nutrition status of already highly vulnerable populations.

The project aims to address critical lifesaving WASH assistance needs for up to 1.2 million people including those living in vulnerable conditions in urban and rural environments who are particularly at risk of AWD/Cholera and outbreaks of other communicable diseases, natural disasters or conflict. 
UNICEF will continue to support the Core Pipeline Supply Hub (CPSH) targeting 1.2 million people, under this proposal, primarily with household water treatment products, soap and hygiene kits although other supplies will also be available. AHF is currently funding UNICEF to support the CPSH until 14 September 2022 and UNICEF is proposing to continue this partnership after this period.

Following the events of 15 August and the subsequent pause in development funding, water availability in urban areas has been affected by the state-owned Urban Water Supply/Sewage State Owned Corporation’s (UWASS) inability to continue its operation and maintaining water services. UNICEF will continue to expand its provision of chlorine to UWASS and private sector water vendors who provide water through shallow wells, boreholes, water trucks and networks. UNICEF will target 150,000 people in Kandahar city and 50,000 people in Hirat city with chlorination and water quality testing.

Water scarcity is increasing particularly in the Northern and Southern Provinces as identified in the Inter-Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT) Spring Prioritization. UNICEF have identified Jawzjan Province and more specifically Aqcha, Faizabad and Qushtapa Districts as having extreme water shortages at the current time and UNICEF will target 20,000 drought affected people with 6 months of water trucking.
At the same time, Loyawala District 9 of Kandahar city has seen 13 confirmed cases of Cholera due to extremely poor access to water, which is exacerbated by decreasing ground water levels. 39,730 people in District 9 will be targeted with safe access to water by laying a new pipeline to new, sustainable water sources.

Under this AHF allocation UNICEF WASH will support UNICEF’s Nutrition section by targeting the same 7,815 children (3,517 boys amp 4,298 girls) aged under-five with SAM in the target districts prioritized by Nutrition Cluster. UNICEF WASH will target 10 per cent of the total target for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) supported through inpatient services with 786 hygiene kits (1 per family with a SAM case) and support 90 per cent of cases receiving outpatient services (7,033 families) with Household Water Treatment products (HHWT) and soap for 3 months.
This proposal has been developed around the Allocation Strategy Paper for AHF 1st Standard Allocation (1SA) 2022 for Afghanistan and conforms with WASH eligible activities 1, 2 and 4. It is in accordance with: the national WASH cluster strategy 2022 HRP/HNO ICCT Spring Prioritization: the Afghanistan Integrated AWD Preparedness and Response Plan for 2022 and current AWD outbreak.