INTRODUCTION

Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene can result in deaths caused by diarrhea, at about 60% mortality rate (World Health Organisation, 2019). Sustainable Development Goal target 6.2 calls for adequate and equitable sanitation for all. The target is tracked with the indicator of safely managed sanitation services.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

• familiarize the national laws and local ordinances relevant to sanitation
• identify sanitary and unsanitary practices in their respective households and communities
• recognize the collective impacts of individual sanitation practices

Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation

Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhATSS) was issued under DOH Administrative Order 2019-0054 last November 15,2019 where lead agencies and local governments shall be able to convert the national sanitation goals into doable steps.

PhATSS refers to a sanitation program strategy and monitoring framework that local governments use to move communities from open defecation status to sustainable sanitation status.

Currently, the Zero Open Defecation Program (ZODP) is being promoted by the Department of Health and other partner agencies in the country such as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Bank-Water and Sanitation Program, Plan International, etc., as one of the major strategies for scaling-up rural sanitation development.

Sixty percent (60%) of all barangays nationwide should have been declared Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) status by 2016 and all barangays nationwide by year 2022 as set under the DOH National Sustainable Sanitation Plan (NSSP). However, only 22.3% of barangays nationwide are certified as Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) and are most likely practicing open defecation in the year 2019 (Annual Report Field Health Services Information System,2019).

Sanitation Level:

1. Grade 0 (Open Defecation Status) - status of the community wherein open defecation is being practiced, members of the community are not using sanitary toilet facilities, and human feces are openly visible or exposed to the environment.
2. Grade 1 (Zero Open Defecation) - households have stopped practicing open defecation and are using sanitary toilet facilities, and no human feces are openly visible or exposed to the environment.
3. Grade 2 (Basic Sanitation Status) - household, schools, child development centers, and public institutional facilities have their own sanitary toilets that are functional; and communities properly manage animal excreta and properly dispose their solid waste.
4. Grade 3 (Sustainable Sanitation Status) - status of the community wherein households, private establishments and public institutional facilities have access to safely managed sanitation services; water service providers pro-actively ensure the safety of drinking water; and, the community can maintain its G2 status and the norm that open defecation is unacceptable.

Types of Toilets

1. Sanitary Toilets
   1. Pour/flush type with septic tank
   2. Pour flush Toilet connected to septic tank AND to sewerage system
   3. Ventilated Pit (VIP) Latrine
2. Unsanitary Toilets
   1. Water-sealed toilet w/o septic tank
   2. Overhung Latrine
   3. Open Pit Latrine

REFERENCES:

2019. Department of Health. Guidelines on the Implementation of the Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhATSS). Retrieved from: https://dmas.doh.gov.ph:8083/Rest/GetFile?id=648860