Health and hygiene

Our medevac flights make medical care possible where medicines and staff are lacking. We provide clean drinking water and sanitation to fight diseases such as cholera.
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Frau hält ein Baby mit Sauerstoffschlauch im Arm, umringt von Dorfbewohnern – Medevac-Einsatz in Viqueque, Timor-Leste
Facts and figures on South Sudan

This is why we fly there:

41%

have a water supply

Barely half the people in South Sudan have access to a drinking water supply.

>1.2%

maternal mortality

In 2020, 1,223 mothers died per 100,000 live births in South Sudan – more than 1 per cent.

56

years' life expectancy

Average life expectancy in South Sudan stood at 56 years in 2022.

5.6%

can wash their hands

Only a fraction of the population in South Sudan has the water and soap needed to wash their hands.

What we do

We fly medical care in

People living more than two kilometres from a passable road often have no access to medical care, clean water, sanitation or hygiene information. Mortality rises as a result. To improve provision on the ground, we work across several areas to advance health and hygiene.

Life expectancy

Our flights make medical care and life-saving evacuations possible in remote regions. Illnesses are treated in time and life expectancy rises.

Child mortality

We help partner organisations vaccinate children in remote areas and make treatment for diarrhoea, malaria and lung infections – as well as health education – possible.

Maternal mortality

Flights for medical staff and evacuations in the event of complications improve care for pregnant women in remote regions. Better hygiene brings mortality down.

Handwashing facilities

We fly specialists and equipment for handwashing stations into remote villages. People learn that washing their hands prevents many illnesses and protects their health.

Drinking water supply

Specialists and equipment for well-drilling and water treatment fly with us into remote areas. People there gain clean drinking water – a foundation for life.

Sanitation

Awareness teams transport materials with us to make the construction of latrines and sanitary facilities possible. Diseases spread less and hygiene improves.

ARD report

Timor-Leste: on the road with the bush pilots

Aircraft assistant Aldo Falo and Swiss MAF pilot Ulrich Müller fly a baby just a few hours old, and its mother, to the nearest hospital in Timor-Leste, because the baby can barely breathe. The ARD team is on board to document it.

Watch the ARD video
News

Working for better health and hygiene

All news
Feature
31
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03
.
2026

Daniel owes his life to a rescue flight

Daniel dreams of becoming a lawyer and helping his fellow South Sudanese. That he can dream at all he owes to an MAF rescue flight: 20 years ago, as a toddler, he fell into a fire and his life hung in the balance.

Read the article
Feature
29
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03
.
2026

One MAF flight: almost 1,000 patients treated by specialists

With medical rescue flights (medevacs) MAF saves lives – often the only hope in an acute emergency. This story shows it strikingly: one take-off, one landing – and almost a thousand people received medical care.

Read the article
Feature
30
.
01
.
2026

The fight against infant mortality

Around Foya in Liberia, seeking medical help means dangerous journeys over impassable roads. The usual transport on ordinary motorbikes carries fatal risks. Motorbike ambulances now bring new hope to Liberia.

Read the article
“MAF's outstanding and dependable air services are crucial in enabling humanitarian organisations like ours to deliver help where it is needed most.”
Fraser Bell
Executive Director, Medair

Everyone should have access to health, clean water and a life of dignity.

Our vision
Get involved

What you can do

If you would like to work with us for a better quality of life for cut-off communities, there are several ways to do it:

Donate

Give the amount you can and want to, and enable us to fly to cut-off places and communities to save lives.

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Sponsorship

Sponsorship makes the biggest difference. Together we strengthen the resilience of remote communities – today and for the future.

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Wills

In your will you can leave a legacy or an inheritance to organisations such as MAF. Give hope beyond your lifetime.

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Partnership

We work with companies, churches, foundations and authorities in order to achieve more. Let us make help from the air possible together.

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Fundraising

Organise your own fundraiser: a cake sale, a sponsored run or something else entirely – every franc helps people in need.

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Join us

Flying, repairing, leading or supporting: there are many ways to work with MAF. Full-time or voluntary, in Switzerland or anywhere in the world.

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Opening access and securing supplies, together.

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Where we work

Our other focus areas

Where roads end, hope often ends too. Remoteness then means isolation rather than freedom. To counter that isolation, we work on:

Education and skills development

Cut off from the world, whole generations lack access to education. Because teachers and teaching materials cannot get through on impassable roads, we fly them in. And open up new opportunities on the ground.

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Food and income

Without access to the outside world, families and communities go without essential goods, services and ways of earning a living. We create access to markets and support the food supply.

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Disaster relief

When disaster strikes, we act fast. We set up airlifts for relief supplies and medical teams and coordinate the distribution of aid with our partner organisations on the ground.

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Faith and hope

Where people live cut off, hope is often missing. We create connections for local churches and communities – and together we strengthen people in their faith. So that no one feels alone any more.

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