POLIO – crippling, potentially fatal and one of the most feared childhood diseases – makes an unwelcomed comeback in the country. The State has the obligation to protect its citizens from it and other diseases preventable with vaccines.
Not getting vaccinated must not be an option. Refusal to get vaccinated means either certain death or grave illness. The anti-polio campaign should stress the importance of vaccination.
A three-year-old girl in Lanao del Sur has been confirmed to be afflicted with polio. The province has been one of the poorest for as long as anyone can remember. Diseases thrive wherever there is poverty, especially of the extreme kind. And where there is poverty, can poor sanitation be far behind?
A waste and pollution watchdog group thus urged national and local authorities to thus intensify the government’s Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) program. Open defecation is the practice of passing feces outside a latrine or toilet, or in a natural environment (open field, body of water, etc.) and leaving the fecal matter exposed. Polio or poliomyelitis is caused by the poliovirus, which is transmitted through the human feces, especially in places with poor hygiene and sanitation.
The return of polio in the Philippines after almost two decades of being declared polio-free by the World Health Organization should lead to an intensified implementation of the ZOD program and other preventive measures, including ecological solid waste management, toward improved environmental sanitation in our communities. According to the Ecowaste Coalition, attaining the ZOD target will benefit sectors such as young children, pregnant women and those with impaired immune systems who are most vulnerable to polio and other infectious diseases.
To achieve the ZOD target, every household in a barangay should have access to a sanitary toilet and water supply. Yes, we can prevent polio from spreading through effective immunization and by ensuring people’s access to such basic necessities like water, sanitation and hygiene.
