ILOILO – Three more municipalities and a component city in this province achieved “zero open defecation” status before 2018 ended. Residents stopped the unhygienic practice of relieving themselves just anywhere.
These were the towns of Barotac Viejo which had 26 barangays, Batad with 24 barangays, Passi City with 51 barangays, and San Joaquin with 85 barangays.
This development brought to 15 the number of areas in this province with “zero open defecation” status, Level 1 (residents sharing sanitary toilets).
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) actually set a higher goal – Level 2, or ensuring that each household has its own sanitary toilets. This is the most ideal, said PHO chief Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado, to avert environmental contamination and water-borne diseases.
Iloilo has a total of 42 towns and one component city.
Towns that achieved “zero open defecation”, Level 1 much earlier were Lemery, Janiuay, Banate, Bingawan, Igbaras, Miag-ao, Mina, New Lucena, Oton, San Miguel, and San Rafael.
This first quarter of 2019, the towns of Dingle (33 barangays), Tigbauan (52 barangays) and Cabatuan (68 barangays) would be formally declared as having reached “zero open defecation” status, according to Trabado.
By the year 2020 all areas of the province may have already achieved zero open defecation status, Level 1, she said.
But this would entail a lot of work. Not all households in this province have sanitary toilets. Many poor families do not have the means to secure one thus discouraging people from the unhygienic practice of relieving themselves just anywhere is an enormous challenge, said Trabado.
The PHO started the campaign for zero open defecation (barangay and municipal levels) in 2015 in coordination with various municipal health officers, Sangguniang Bayan members who chair committees on health and sanitation, municipal nurses, and representatives from the Department of Health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), approximately seven million Filipinos still practice open defecation, mostly in rural areas.
“When our neighbors defecate in the open, in fields and waterways, our children will more likely experience frequent bouts of diarrhea, have worm infections, and grow up stunted and undernourished,” said UNICEF country representative Lotta Sylwander./PN
