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[av_heading heading=’A very basic need’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Friday, January 6, 2017
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ON JAN. 3, this paper published a front page photo of a threadbare public urinal outside the Iloilo Terminal Market. It raised the concern on the lack of accessible and decent public toilets in Iloilo City.
The photo was actually just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. There’s a bigger concern involved and on a national scale – the issue on open defecation and public sanitation. According to the Department of Health (DOH), around eight million Filipinos still openly defecate.
We urge DOH to work with local government units (LGUs) and determine which households and barangays still need assistance for toilet facilities. We hope all households will have improved sanitation facilities and every Filipino will have access to toilets. This is a serious sanitation and health issue. Diarrhea caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water kills 315,000 children every year around the world.
DOH said it needed P1 billion to provide sanitary toilets for all households but it only proposed P83 million under its 2017 budget. It provides the toilet bowls and the construction is care of LGUs, thus the budget request is based on the request of LGUs.
DOH has a Zero Open Defecation program where it advocates that every household in the barangay has sanitary toilets. Sarangani province has zero open defecation. The department should meet with LGUs to determine priority areas for the provision of improved sanitary facilities using the Sarangani model. If Sarangani, which is among the poorest provinces in the country, can do it, other LGUs can do it as well, with political will and health leadership.
Access to health sanitation facilities is one of the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of its targets is to “achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.”
Basic sanitation services such as toilets or latrines are important because the lack of these facilities results in diarrheal diseases and public safety is compromised. LGUs should be more proactive in addressing this very basic need.
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