3 in 10 PH health facilities lack clean toilets – WHO, UNICEF

Three in 10 health facilities in the Philippines lack access to clean toilets, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) bared on Thursday.

Of all the health care facilities, some 23 percent have unclean toilets while 4 percent have no toilets at all.

The WHO-UNICEF report is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, sanitation, and hygiene

(WASH) in health care facilities (HCF).

“Health care facilities won’t be able to provide quality care to people if there is no safe water, toilet, or handwashing facility,” said WHO Representative in the Philippines Dr. Gundo Weiler.

Weiler said the recent water shortage experienced in Metro Manila highlighted the need for long-term solutions to water, sanitation, and hygiene in HCF.

“The Philippines must ensure that safe WASH facilities are available and accessible to ensure health for all Filipinos,” he said.

The recent water shortage affected at least five major hospitals, namely, Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City; National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City; and National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Quirino Memorial Medical Center, all in Quezon City.

It was reported that major hospitals were forced to reduce the admission of patients to some specialty wards, like the operating room and emergency room, to prevent disease outbreaks.

The lack of water also prompted the Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to talk to a water concessionaire to prioritize the supply of water to the five hospitals and limit the number of watchers into one per patient.

The DOH has identified accessibility to WASH in all health care facilities as a priority.

In the global scale, the report said available data shows that one in four health care facilities around the world lacks basic water services, impacting over 2 billion people. It further reveals that many health centers lack sanitation service, basic facilities for hand hygiene and safe segregation and disposal of health care waste.

These services, it added, “are crucial to preventing infections, reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance and providing quality care, particularly for safe childbirth.”

In the Philippines, WHO is supporting the government in establishing WASH standards for health care facilities, strengthening the capacity of health workforce on WASH assessment and planning for health care facilities, updating the health care waste management manual, and developing a monitoring system on WASH in HCF.

UNICEF, on the other hand, is working with the DOH to operationalize the National Sustainable Sanitation Plan through the development of programming guidelines, tools, and monitoring systems.

It is also working in selected provinces to model programming interventions that support rural communities to improve their access to WASH services.