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Public Health Program

Philippines Zero Open Defecation Program

Sanitation Program

A Philippine Department of Health program using the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach to eliminate open defecation nationwide, formalized through Department of Health policies issued in 2019 that set a target of declaring every barangay practicing open defecation as achieving Zero Open Defecation status by 2022 under the country's National Sustainable Sanitation Plan, with a longer-term target of universal Zero Open Defecation status by 2025. The Zero Open Defecation Program, abbreviated ZODP, treats the elimination of open defecation as a public health priority because poor sanitation contributes to childhood stunting and malnutrition through the repeated diarrhea and gut infections that come with a lack of toilets, and it has been supported by the UNICEF-assisted communication campaign Goodbye, Dumi! Hello, Healthy!, which won a Gold Anvil award for its sustained public messaging. By November 2021 the program had certified 55 municipalities and cities as having achieved Zero Open Defecation status.

Facts
Sponsoring Body
The Philippine Department of Health (DOH), in partnership with UNICEF and the World Health Organization. 1
Geographic Scope
Nationwide, covering all 42,046 barangays of the Philippines. 1
Measured Results
As of 2019, one third of the Philippines' 42,046 barangays had been certified as having abandoned open defecation, while only about six percent of cities and municipalities had achieved municipal-wide Zero Open Defecation status. 1
Classification
Program Kind
Nutrition Program 1
Connections

Delivers Practice

Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Sanitation Targets Are Off-Track (United Nations in the Philippines)
United Nations in the Philippines
  • World Toilet Day paragraph
    With the theme "Toilets for Every Juan: Bida ang Pamilyang Gumagamit ng Kubeta!," for this year's World Toilet Day event, DOH, in partnership with UNICEF and the World Health Organization, encourage local governments and key stakeholders to make every effort to ensure that sanitation coverage extends to entire communities in all settings and not just households.
  • 2019 FHSIS figures paragraph
    Based on the 2019 Field Health Services Information System, one-third of the 42,046 barangays in the Philippines have been certified as having abandoned the practice of open defecation in their communities.
  • Program classification, entity description sentence
    The Zero Open Defecation Program, abbreviated ZODP, treats the elimination of open defecation as a public health priority because poor sanitation contributes to childhood stunting and malnutrition through the repeated diarrhea and gut infections that come with a lack of toilets, and it has been supported by the UNICEF-assisted communication campaign Goodbye, Dumi!
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