Water is essential for life and good health. Fresh water is not only needed for drinking but also cooking, food production and a variety of other uses such as sanitation, hygiene and cleanliness practises. Lack of sanitation can force people to defecate in the open, in rivers and near areas where children play. These habits result in 115 deaths every hour in the African Region.

Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) refer to a group of epidemic prone diseases that are caused by several distinct families of viruses.