UNICEF to LGU leaders: Take Part In Reinforcement Of Sanitation Practices And Behaviors In The Communities

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is calling on local government unit (LGU) officials, particularly in the barangays, to lead their constituents in upgrading the community’s sanitation facilities, reinforcing the concepts on sanitation and achieving proper hygiene behaviors.

“We need the leaders of the barangays and municipalities to manage, go up, tell your story, show what we can do, even with small resources, even if you don’t have lots of money, because it is all largely about behavior,” Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF country representative in the Philippines, told the participants in the 1st National Sanitation Learning Exchange (SANLEX 2016) held on Tuesday in Sequioa Hotel, Quezon City.

Sylwander made the call as she supported the challenge of the Department of Health (DOH) to the municipalities hailed as “champions” for achieving Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) status under the department’s Zero Open Defecation Program.

The UNICEF country representative also highlighted the crucial and important role of LGU leaders in sustaining the gains and addressing the challenges on sanitation and hygiene in the country as a way to move forward.

“We know that mayors do make difference; barangay health workers, barangay captains make difference… We know that by making them understand the importance of sanitation and hygiene, they can change their communities,” she said.

In line with this, she told the conference participants that they can begin by improving sanitation in daycare and school facilities.

Sylwander noted that while the UNICEF often uses the concept, “teach a mother, you teach a family,” there is also a need to use another equally important concept and strategy — “teach a child, teach a family.”

“Because if a child learns how to wash hands properly, how to go to the toilet (avoiding open defecation), they will bring these home and tell their moms (mothers): We need to have soap and water when we go and come out of the toilet,” she explained.

She said that in that way, there will be an increase of understanding that will create a room for a change of people’s behavior in terms of hygiene and sanitation.

She added that poor hygiene and poor sanitation have very close link to the general health of the people, specifically children whose possibilities to develop full potential will be affected by sickness and diseases that may result if efforts on sanitation and hygiene will not be promoted, sustained and reinforced further.

“Depriving communities, children and parents of good sanitation hygiene standards is really depriving them of basic human right,” she explained.

UNICEF has been a long partner of the country (since after World War II or in 1948) in terms of programs that promote the welfare of children and their families.

This international organization is also an active partner behind the Zero Open Defecation Program (ZODP) which was launched in 2012 as part of the global initiative on raising awareness on the importance of sanitation practices in combating diseases that can be transmitted through poor hygiene practices.

“In 2015 alone, our program reached one million people living in zero open defecation-free communities,” the UNICEF official said.

She noted that at present, while there are still a lot more million people to be reached worldwide, the one million people reached by the program last year is a big number already as it means “one million people less in risk for diarrhea, cholera and other hookworms diseases and also less risk for worms as described by DOH Undersecretary Vicente Y. Belizario Jr.

The program has been helpful in instilling the importance of having a clean toilet no matter how simple it is because it is also giving feelings of safeness and dignity to the children and people using the facility while protecting other people from sickness as well in the process.

In addition, having clean toilet and improved sanitation has an impact on the nutritional status of children.

According to the UNICEF, children can suffer malnutrition/undernutrition in times that they get sick of cholera, diarrhea and intestinal worms that are caused by poor sanitation and hygiene practices.

Reinforcing the efforts on sanitation by achieving sustainable and resilient practices and systems is part of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

According to DOH Undersecretary Belizario, under the 2015 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of the WHO and UNICEF, the Philippines has met its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on safe water.

Currently, 92 percent of the Philippine population has access to improved water sources even as the country made good progress towards meeting the sanitation target at 83 percent.

Despite this positive progress, however, only 74 percent of the population have their own toilet facilities and 26 percent are still using unsanitary or do not have their own toilet facilities, of which 7.0 percent still practice open defecation. (PNA) SCS/LSJ