The Department of Health (DOH) and other government agencies are set to draft a “short-term” plan in order to manage diarrheal diseases outbreak in the country.

The DOH convened on Friday, Nov. 4, the Interagency Committee on Environmental Health (IACEH) to discuss several outbreaks in the country, particularly the diarrheal outbreak, said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a media briefing on Friday.

“Prinesent namin sa kanila yung iba't-ibang outbreaks na nangyayari sa ating bansa for these past months kung saan top of the list would be our diarrheal diseases (We presented to them the various outbreaks that have been happening in our country for these past months wherein diarrheal diseases was on top of the list),” said Vergeire.

Vergeire noted that during the DOH investigation, it was revealed that several areas that had diarrheal outbreaks lack access to safe drinking water as well as hygiene facilities such as toilets, and clogged wastewater systems.

She also noted that the cause of an individual contracting a disease is that only “20 percent would be directly caused by health” while the “80 percent or so would be caused by other factors outside of health which can be the environment, education, occupation, and so on.” The percentage is based on “experience and studies,” said Vergeire.

“Nagkaroon ng resolution kung saan gagawa kami ng isang short term plan na mga aksyon na pwedeng gawin ng bawat ahensya hanggang December of this year to address initially itong mga outbreaks ng pagtatae sa ating bansa (We came up with a resolution where we will develop a short term action plan that each agency can do until December of this year to initially address these outbreaks of diarrhea in our country),” said Vergeire.

“And we will have long-term plans which will require budget para naman maisaayos natin ang infrastructure for sanitation dito sa iba't-ibang LGUs natin (so that we can fix the infrastructure for sanitation in our various LGUs),” she added.

The IACEH will also review the Code of Sanitation of the Philippines, said Vergeire.

“Amin uling pag-aaralan ang Code of Sanitation of the Philippines dahil matagal na itong batas na ito, baka may kailangan na tayong baguhin para mas mabigyan ng suporta ang ating (We will study the Code of Sanitation of the Philippines again because this law has been around for a long time. Maybe we need to change something to give our) local governments in terms of environmental sanitation,” she said.

The IACEH is consists of 12 government agencies, including the DOH. The other departments are Interior and Local Government (DILG), Agriculture (DA), Science and Technology (DOST), Labor and Employment (DOLE), Trade and Industry (DTI), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Transportation (DOTr), Information and Communications Technology (DILG), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

The IACEH members were able to attend the meeting except for DENR, said Vergeire. Also present during the meeting were officials from Local Waterworks and Utilities Administration (LWUA) and World Health Organization (WHO).