Aïssé Ouedraogo arrived at the water point a few kilometers from her home at 4:00 in the morning. Six hours later she had barely filled 10 jerry cans with clean water, each of them carrying just 20 liters [about five gallons]. “I can't take more than that,” she said. “There is not enough water in this region, and if I take more than I need, the others will not have enough.”
At this water point in the district of Gorom Gorom in Burkina Faso’s desert Sahel region, dozens of women like Ouedraogo wait each day for their turn to fill jerry cans with clean water. She arrived here after fleeing violence in her home village of Boulékéssi, about 52 miles away. Since 2018, this region has been at the center of a growing armed conflict that has spread across borders and into neighboring countries. The fighting—coupled with the effects of climate change—has left many people like Ouedraogo without access to safe water and at risk of disease outbreaks.
Six of Burkina Faso’s 13 regions are affected by the water crisis: Sahel, Centre-Nord, Nord, Est, Boucle du Mouhoun, and Centre-Est. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is responding in four of these to bring water to people in need. In 2020, our teams distributed more than 35 million gallons of water, an amount equivalent to 45 Olympic-sized swimming pools. MSF also provides water and sanitation services, hygiene supplies, and basic health services, but more humanitarian assistance is urgently needed.