Around 550,000 Sudanese refugees have moved to eastern Chad since the war broke out in Sudan last year. Refugee camps are being built, but shelter and basic facilities available in the camps are wholly inadequate to meet the needs of the incoming people. People displaced from Sudan sheltering in camps are living in dire conditions, desperately short of clean water and decent sanitation. Most of the refugees are settled in the border town of Adre and refugee camps in Ouaddai province including Aboutengue, Metche, and Al Acha. According to UNHCR, each of these camps have a population of around 50,000 people while Adre still has 160,000 refugees awaiting relocation.

For almost a year, MSF teams have deployed an exceptional assistance in Eastern Chad. Teams have scaled up medical care, nutritional support, water and sanitation and disease prevention measures to address these pressing challenges and prevent future threats such as cholera outbreaks. However, the water and sanitation needs have remained far greater than the available humanitarian response.