A study funded by the World Bank has called on the Philippines to invest in
sanitation services for about 27 million individuals and to provide treatment
facilities for domestic sewage. The four-country study was conducted from 2006-2007 in the Philippines,
Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam under World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program for East Asia and the Pacific. According to the study, the countries lose an estimated $9 billion per year due
to poor sanitation. The Philippines alone recorded P77.8-billion economic losses per year due to
premature death, health care costs, lost wages, and other impacts resulting from
poor sanitation, the study noted. For the Philippines, the study was co-funded by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) under its Environmental Cooperation-Asia
Program (ECO-Asia). Titled "Economic Impacts of Sanitation in the Philippines," the study found that
more than 31 persons, mostly children, die everyday from diarrhea due to poor
sanitation. In an interview, Lisa Kircher Lumbao, country coordinator of the USAID ECO-Asia
program, said the lack of toilets, sewage systems and operational wastewater
treatment facilities causes many to contract water-borne diseases, especially
diarrhea. While more than 27 million Filipinos do not have sanitary toilets, those that do
rarely have proper sewage treatment, she noted. Ms. Lumbao said that based on their study, 13 million do not have clean water
sources and only 3.3% of households are connected to sewers leading to treatment facilities. More than 95% of the wastewater in urban areas is deposited untreated into
ground water, canals and waterways. Because of this, water supplies are commonly contaminated and people in urban slums, especially among illegal settlers near the rivers, are exposed directly to raw sewage, Ms. Lumbao said. Once human waste enters the body, the bacteria, parasites and viruses can grow,
causing symptoms such as diarrhea, which is common among bacterial infections
such as dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A and typhoid, she explained. The study came up with four policy recommendations: increased budget allocation for sanitation facilities, especially sewage treatment tanks; intensified
education and information drive in schools and household through partnership
with the media; development of a policy and regulatory framework for
environmental and health protection; and the conduct of further research studies
on the economic and welfare impacts of poor sanitation in local government
level. To address the alarming sanitation situation, especially in third world
countries, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the
International Year of Sanitation (IYS). Rahul Raturi, World Bank sector manager for environment and rural development,
said the IYS aims to heighten public awareness on the economic impact of poor
sanitation on a national level, as well as to call on lawmakers, economic
planners, investors, and the media to act responsibly to solve the sanitation
problem. "Our study must serve as a wake-up call to government officials since poor
sanitation is badly affecting everyone, particularly the poor and the vulnerable
children, women, disabled and the elderly," he said. Sanitation is one neglected aspect of development. In countries where the public
purse is severely limited, and population needs seemingly boundless, sanitation
is not deemed attractive or important enough to gain the attention of
politicians and journalists, the World Bank study noted. It is often a private matter to be handled by the household or local community.
Also institutionally, sanitation is sidelined by the lack of clear ministerial
responsibilities, the bank added.
Post Date : 21 Februari 2008
| 
