BY: BY JENNIFER C. TILOS
DUMAGUETE CITY, May 9 (PIA) --Diarrhea disease ranks number three as the leading causes of morbidity in Negros Oriental where barangay residents are still using unimproved toilets and defecating in the open areas.
This was reported by assistant provincial health officer Dr. Edgardo Barredo as Negros Oriental targets for zero open defecation (ZOD) under the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP).
In an effort to prevent the incidence of unhygienic-related disease and scale up sanitary conditions in the province, Governor Roel Degamo issued an executive order creating a Technical Working Group to implement the ZOD policy.
The EO states that open defecation practice is contributory to health hazards as it may contaminate the water system which brings about gastrointestinal that may cause fatal death.
The TWG is directed to oversee the implementation of sanitation programs and spearhead its promotion and advocacy to improve public health standards in the province.
With the technical assistance of World Bank in collaboration with the Provincial Health Office has initiated the ZOD in the selected pilot municipalities of Bindoy and La Libertad.
With the active support of both local chief executives of Bindoy and La Libertad to stop open defecation, a series of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach have been conducted to households without access of fix-point toilets in the barangays.
According to Bindoy Mayor Valente Yap, diarrhea remains as the second leading cause of morbidity and the third most common cause of under 5 years old mortality in Bindoy.
The municipality had started its CLTS in September last year which focused on triggering communities to eradicate open defecation practices.
Mayor Yap said, “With series of triggering process for five months, from 2,930 households without toilets in 22 barangays it significantly reduced to 1,983 now”.
The mayor added with consistent monitoring, the number of households with sanitary toilets has increased to 79 percent in the first quarter of this year. (mbcn/JCT/PIA7-Negros Oriental)