In this paper, we argue for including a full hygiene promotion intervention as an early part of emergency response. In an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Bentiu, Republic of South Sudan, it has proven to be a strong complement to the construction of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities and WASH non-food item (NFI) distribution. Comparison between two camps with and without hygiene promotion intervention was made possible by the difficulty in recruiting hygiene promoters in one of the two camps. Results show that places where hygiene promotion activities were regularly performed achieved better results in terms of adopting new hygiene practices and better use of the WASH facilities and NFI.