Improving access to water in Afghanistan – in pictures

One of the valleys in which Medair runs its water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes, near the the village of Talaqul in the province of Bamyan Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT Community members participate in a WASH meeting in the village of Talaqul, in Bamyan province Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair So far, the Medair projects have assisted more than 40,000 people by providing hygiene education, protecting freshwater springs, and building wells, latrines and standpipes Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Collecting water in Bamyan province. Cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery are common in Afghanistan, and more than 20% of children under the age of five will die as a result of water-related diseases Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT Khadija's two grandchildren have lived with her since their mother left to marry another man after the death of her husband. A widow herself, Khadija is a beneficiary of Medair's vulnerable persons programme as she has no means of income or place of her own Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair A mother of six washes potatoes at her house in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan. Her husband's crop was badly affected by a prolonged drought and he has had to buy in a lot of food for the winter Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair A woman with her child, who is suffering from acute diarrhoea, in the district hospital in Panjob, in Bamyan. A hospital doctor had noticed that villages that have WASH programmes have much fewer cases of water-related diseases Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT Amin Abdullah, a disabled widower, in his home in a village near Panjob, in Bamyan. He is a beneficiary of Medair's financial support programme for vulnerable people, which has enabled him to pay off loans Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair A woman collects water from a stream in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT A girl leads donkeys while her father stands on the plough behind in a village in the province of Bamyan. A prolonged drought means this year's harvest has been poor and many people are worried about having enough food to see them through the winter Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Zaina, a widow and mother of six, is a beneficiary of Medair's financial support for vulnerable families Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair A young girl gives her goats a drink in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT The valleys of Bamyan, where Medair runs many of its WASH projects Photograph: Kate Holt/Medair Photograph: KATE HOLT