ILOILO – Residents of Pototan town’s 50 barangays were no longer into the unhygienic practice of relieving themselves just anywhere, according to the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
Because of this, the municipality would be officially declared to have achieved zero open defecation (ZOD) status (Level 1) this Friday, said Engineer Emma Conato, PHO sanitation inspector.
ZOD Level 1 means households were sharing sanitary toilets to avoid open defecation.
The ideal is ZOD Level 2; all households have their respective sanitary toilets to avert environmental contamination and water-borne diseases, said Conato.
PHO started the campaign to eliminate the unhealthy exercise of open defecation in the barangay and municipal level in 2015.
It was initially difficult, said Conato, but residents were eventually convinced open defecation was hazardous because it could lead to disease outbreaks.
Pototan is the 19th in this province to have achieved ZOD status. The 18 others declared as such much earlier were the municipalities of Bingawan, Mina, Oton, New Lucena, Banate, Igbaras, San Rafael, Miag-ao, San Miguel, Janiuay, Lemery, Batad, Barotac Viejo, San Joaquin, Tigbauan, Badiangan, and Tubungan, and the component city of Passi.
Twenty-four more municipalities must strive to achieve the status, said Conato.
PHO is hoping that all municipalities of Iloilo would have achieved ZOD status by next year.
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.
Thus, the DOH continues to promote the Zero Open Defecation Program (ZODP) advocacy and health education campaign. The ZODP utilizes the approaches and strategies of Community-Led Total Sanitation or CLTS.
CLTS is under the umbrella concept of total sanitation that includes a range of behaviors such as:
* stopping open defecation practices
* ensuring that everyone uses a sanitary toilet
* frequent and proper hand washing
* hygienic handling food and water
* safe disposal of animal and domestic waste
* creation and maintenance of a clean and safe environment
The DOH, through the National Sustainable Sanitation Plan, has set an ambitious target that by 2022, all barangays would have achieved ZOD status./PN
