The Department of Health (DOH) is calling on local government units to intensify their efforts toward zero open excretion in the midst of the resurgence of the poliovirus in the country. According to Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo last Monday, September 23, some 3.5 million Filipinos “have no proper sanitary toilets.”
“One of the reasons na tinitingnan natin kung bakit bumabalik ‘yung polio, hindi lang naman ‘yung low immunization rate, kundi kasama talaga ‘yung poor environmental sanitation,” Domingo said.
For the next 10 years, around 70,000 toilets need to be constructed annually, or around 700,000 toilets nationwide until 2030. The proposed 2020 budget from the health department allocates only P2 million for the construction of toilets.
“Kahit sabihin nating P1,000 ang cost ng isang toilet, ang P2 million, eh 2,000 lang ‘yun. Hindi talaga kakayanin ng DOH lang. Kailangan ito magiging concerted effort natin,” he added.
The DOH confirmed the re-emergence of the polio disease in the Philippines after 19 years of “polio-free” country that was declared by the World Health Organization.
One polio case has been confirmed in a 3-year-old girl from Lanao del Sur. The country also recorded its second case of polio in the province of Laguna.
As defined by the WHO, polio (or Poliomyelitis) is “a virus that is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the fecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.“
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