Implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Program and The Intermediate Pupils' Hygiene and Sanitation Practices: Basis For A Proposed Intervention Measures
Implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Program and The Intermediate Pupils' Hygiene and Sanitation Practices: Basis For A Proposed Intervention Measures
Implementation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Program and The Intermediate Pupils' Hygiene and Sanitation Practices: Basis For A Proposed Intervention Measures
The Schools Division of Antipolo City has ordered all 2. Was there any significant difference in the
schools to adapt and implement the policy in order to perceptions of the two groups of respondents on the
promote healthy and safe learning environment and to extent of implementation of the DepEd WaSH
prevent the spread of COVID-19 around schools. To Program in terms of aforementioned aspect?
facilitate systematic and organize WinS program 3. Was there any significant relationship between
implementation, the division office has been perceived implementation of WaSH program of
conducting an advocacy and capacity building to the teachers and pupils and the hygiene and sanitation
technical staff, program administrators and practices of pupils?
implementers, parents and other stakeholders. Hygiene 4. Based on the results of the study, what intervention
and sanitation have been a concern in most elementary measures was proposed to enhance the School WaSH
schools in the Philippines. Many school administrators Program?
have ignored this problem because they were too
preoccupied with financial concerns. It illustrates the
idea of recognizing the significance of clean facilities
Literature Review
to a good learning environment. We have hygiene and
sanitation policies in place. Almost every state Rowles et al. (2020) noted a practical and simple best
recognizes the significance of enforcing these policies, practice in the design of catchment and storage
as the majority of citizens agree that in order for systems, such as the use of first flush diverters
students to learn effectively and for the school's appropriate containers, and coverings can keep
services to run smoothly, all school districts must have rainwater quality high. Seasonal and diurnal variations
adequate facilities to cater to their basic needs, such as in water quality are common because of temperature
water, sanitation, and hygiene (Sangalang et al., 2021). fluctuations weather, and human and animal use of
water sources. To assess water quality, humans
Given the above cited situations, the researcher typically use visual clues to evaluate if the water is of
decided to conduct an evaluation on the status of the sufficient quality although if there are no feasible
implementation of WaSH Program among public alternatives, people may still use a particular water
elementary schools in the Schools Division of source even if they perceive the quality to be poor.
Antipolo City to provide concrete data regarding the
implementation of the program and hoped to propose In addition, Hacker and Kaminsky (2017) deliberately
intervention measures to facilitate the improvement focused on the sanitation and hygiene, hygiene
and successful implementation of the program for the activities, such as handwashing, bathing, washing
succeeding years. clothes, or cleaning the home, can act as primary or
secondary barriers to transmission. Hygiene activities,
Research Questions like handwashing or clothes washing, can destroy or
remove pathogens and prevent transmission to a new
This study aimed to assess the implementation of host, a critical step in preventing the transmission of
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) program fecal-oral pathogens, water-washed diseases, and
among intermediate pupils in the City Schools airborne-transmitted infections. However, data on
Division of Antipolo towards the development of a hygiene activities and access to hygiene services is
proposed intervention program. Specifically, this study severely lacking and agreed upon indicators for
sought answers to the following questions: monitoring hygiene were not introduced until 2015.
Although “hygiene” is a broad term, the international
1. What was the extent of the implementation of the WASH community is most interested in access to
WaSH Program to the hygiene and sanitation among handwashing facilities with soap and water.
intermediate pupils as perceived by the teachers and
pupils themselves in terms of the following aspects: As stated by Davis et al. (2019), access to
1.1 Disease Preventive and Control; handwashing facilities, water, and soap is likely a good
1.1.1 Deworming metric for actual handwashing behavior, however,
1.1.2 Personal hygiene and sanitation additional considerations are also important, such as
1.1.3 Proper disposal of waste how often such facilities are used, the quality of the
1.1.4 Proper utilization of toilets and urinals water, whether it is flowing. For example, some
1.2 Community and Environmental Health populations frequently reuse water from other
1.2.1 Healthful Surroundings activities for multiple hygiene uses, such as sharing
1.2.2 Water Supply handwash basins between multiple people or reusing
1.2.3 Maintaining health environment bathing water for cleaning the home. While the safe
Ethical Considerations
Results and Discussion It can be seen in the table that the teachers and pupils’
respondents have a common perception on the three
indicators on the extent of the implementation of the
Extent of the Implementation of the WaSH WaSH program on disease preventive and control in
Program to the Hygiene and Sanitation among the aspect of personal hygiene and sanitation. These
Intermediate Pupils as Perceived by the Teachers are indicator 1 “Cleaning your body /taking a bath
and Pupils Themselves everyday” with the weighted mean of 3.00, indicator 2
“Washing your hands with soap after going to the
Table 1. Extent of the Implementation of WaSH toilet” with weighted mean of 3.00, indicator 3
Program on the Disease Preventive Control in the “Washing your hands after handling pets and other
Aspect of Deworming animals” with weighted mean of 3.00, respectively.
Table 3. Extent of the implementation of the WaSH of the implementation of the WaSH Program on
Program on Disease Preventive and Control in the Control in the Aspect of Proper Utilization of Toilets
Aspect of Proper Disposal of Waste and Urinals at the High extent as manifested by the
overall weighted mean of 3.03 of the former and 3.05
of the latter.
This implies that the teachers and pupils s were It can be gleaned from the table that by the
advocates of “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” In fact respondents perceived the six indicators of the
the school supports the campaign of the community on healthful surroundings at High Extent as clearly shown
the two projects: “Sa Basura may Pera” and “Harap ng by the weighted mean of 3.06 and 2.56 respectively.
Bahay nyo Linis Mo”. Although these findings were considered satisfactory
and efficacious, the groups of respondents still believe
Table 4. Extent of the implementation of the WaSH
that they can enhance the implementation in terms of
program on Disease Preventive Control in the Aspect healthful surroundings to great extent.
of Proper Utilization of Toilets and Urinals
Table 6. Extent of implementation of the WaSH
Program on the Community and Environmental Health
in the aspect of adequate Water Supply, Sanitation,
and Hygiene
still glaring and crystal-clear gaps in the coverage and Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting,
quality of WaSH services in school which requires and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson
solution and rehabilitation to ensure school children Education, Inc.
have access to safe and clean water and proper Cumming, O. et al., (2019). “The implications of three major new
sanitation and hygiene practices It is in this context trials for the effect of water, sanitation and hygiene on childhood
diarrhea and stunting: a consensus statement.” BMC Medicine,
that based on the salient findings of the study this
17(1), 173.
research deemed it wise to recommend this training
program to address the challenges and problems Davis, A. et al., (2019). “Priority Addressment Protocol:
Understanding the Ability and Potential of Sanitation Systems to
encountered in the implementation of WaSH program Address Priorities.” Environmental Science & Technology,
more particularly in the setting of the study, i.e., Sta American Chemical Society, 53(1), 401–411.
Cruz Elementary School, the biggest school in terms
DepEd Order No. 10, “s, 2016 on policy and Guidelines on the
of pupil’s enrollment in the City Schools Division of Comprehensive WASH in Schools Program Retrieved from
Antipolo. www.deped.gob.ph/orders/do 10 s. 2016.
development.” Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Canadian Journal of Public Health, 113(4), 622-635.
Development, IWA Publishing, 7(3), 407–415. doi.org/10.17269/s41997-022-00633-9.
Rowles, L. S., Hossain, A. I., Aggarwal, S., Kirisits, M. J., and World Health Organization. (2016). Ambient air pollution: A global
Saleh, N. B. (2020). “Water quality and associated microbial assessment of exposure and burden of disease.
ecology in selected Alaska Native communities: Challenges in off-
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134450. Affiliations and Corresponding Information
Anthonet J. Sunga
Sangalang SO, Medina SAJ, Ottong ZJ, et al. (2021) Protocol for a
Trial Assessing the Impacts of School-Based WaSH Interventions Sta. Cruz Elementary School
on Children’s Health Literacy, Handwashing, and Nutrition Status in Department of Education - Philippines
Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Int J Environ Res Public
Health 2021; 18. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010226.