7 March 2022 – Good Neighbors International Philippines (GNIP), in partnership with the Local Government Unit of Prieto Diaz, through the Municipal Health Office and Rural Health Sanitation Inspection Office will support the families in Prieto Diaz to have better sanitation through the provision of sanitary toilets.
According to the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey, about 4.5 percent of Filipinos do not yet have sanitary toilets and 24 percent use unimproved sanitation facilities. This amounts to an estimated 28 million Filipinos whose poor sanitation practices cause a crucial threat to the population.
With the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) under the Zero Open Defecation Program of the Department of Health (DOH), GNIP will support 48 families in the project area in Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon, to have their sanitary toilet at home.
Three barangays will be the recipients of the project namely Barangay Manlabong, San Ramon, and Quidolog. The beneficiaries will also undergo orientation and other interventions relating to CLTS and the Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhatSS) program.
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, washes hands properly, hygienically handles food and water; and disposing of animal and domestic waste safely to create a clean and safe environment.
According to DOH, eradicating open defecation and setting up the safe management of sanitation requires a shift in the use of approaches. This shift will include collective behavior change, strong supply chains, and improved public services. Across these steps is a need for public regulation of behavior compliance, improvement of infrastructure and services of individuals, collectives, and corporations.
References:
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and ICF. 2018. Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2017. Quezon City, Philippines, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: PSA and ICF.
