Overview
Access to safe, affordable, and reliable drinking water and sanitation services is a fundamental human need and right.
Safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities are vital to human survival and dignity. Ensuring and securing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all is a basic step toward reducing risk of illness and death, especially among children. Universal access to safe water and sanitation is also essential to reducing poverty, supporting livelihoods, and attaining sustainable development.
Child Rights Situation Analysis
Indicators for this subdimension include:
- the proportion of population and families/households with access to at least basic drinking water services and improved sources of drinking water
- the proportion of population and families/households with access to at least basic sanitation services and improved sanitation facilities, and the percentage of population practicing open defecation; and
- the percentage of the population and families with access to basic handwashing facilities.
Quick notes
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Water Access (2022): 97% of the population has basic drinking water access; BARMM lowest at 80.2%.
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Sanitation (2022): 82.5% have basic sanitation; 19.5 million lack access, 3.4 million practice open defecation, lowest in BARMM (55.3%).
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Family Sanitation Access: 84% in 2022, significant improvement from 2017. Highest open defecation in BARMM.
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Handwashing (2022): 94.9% of the population and 93.2% of families have access to basic handwashing facilities; BARMM has the lowest access at 80.8% and 75.7%, respectively.
Equity & Risk
Equity
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Lack of access to WASH services can impact adolescent girls particularly with regard to menstrual hygiene. A critical enabling factor for good menstrual hygiene is a clean toilet and with rates of open defecation found to be comparatively high in the BARMM region, this may indicate that girls 12-17 years who are menstruating and do not have access to a clean toilet are likely to be deprived with regard to realization of their hygiene rights.
Lack of access to WASH services can impact adolescent girls particularly with regard to menstrual hygiene. A critical enabling factor for good menstrual hygiene is a clean toilet and with rates of open defecation found to be comparatively high in the BARMM region, this may indicate that girls 12-17 years who are menstruating and do not have access to a clean toilet are likely to be deprived with regard to realization of their hygiene rights.
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This situation analysis has not been able to determine any data which disaggregates by disability under this subdimension. However, children with disabilities are often subject to inequities in their access to WASH services which suit and respond to the particular needs they may have, particularly affecting those with physical disabilities.
This situation analysis has not been able to determine any data which disaggregates by disability under this subdimension. However, children with disabilities are often subject to inequities in their access to WASH services which suit and respond to the particular needs they may have, particularly affecting those with physical disabilities.
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- Residents of the BARMM region are impacted by particularly inequitable progress on the provision of basic water and sanitation in the Philippines. For example, only 80.2 per cent of BARMM residents have access to basic water services compared to 97 per cent of the population at the national level.
- Poor WASH services at the household level have knock-on impacts for other child rights, increasing the risk of other inequities for those impacted in BARMM.
For example, water insecurity and untreated water are underlying drivers of poor nutrition outcomes in early childhood: water “determines disease environments and therefore the ability to physically utilize nutrients for health growth” as well as impacting food supplies and the nutrients people have access to, and livelihoods which “indirectly affects nutrition through income, time use and education of caregivers.” This is a recognized issue by BARMM authorities who are seeking to address the challenge with prioritized WASH activities under its Bangsamoro Development Planning 2023-2028. It must also be noted that in November 2022 the province of Iloilo became the first province to achieve zero open defecation (ZOD).
According to UNICEF the “province’s journey towards achieving the ZOD G1 status of the Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhATSS) will serve as model for other local governments in the country.”
- Residents of the BARMM region are impacted by particularly inequitable progress on the provision of basic water and sanitation in the Philippines. For example, only 80.2 per cent of BARMM residents have access to basic water services compared to 97 per cent of the population at the national level.
- Poor WASH services at the household level have knock-on impacts for other child rights, increasing the risk of other inequities for those impacted in BARMM.
For example, water insecurity and untreated water are underlying drivers of poor nutrition outcomes in early childhood: water “determines disease environments and therefore the ability to physically utilize nutrients for health growth” as well as impacting food supplies and the nutrients people have access to, and livelihoods which “indirectly affects nutrition through income, time use and education of caregivers.” This is a recognized issue by BARMM authorities who are seeking to address the challenge with prioritized WASH activities under its Bangsamoro Development Planning 2023-2028. It must also be noted that in November 2022 the province of Iloilo became the first province to achieve zero open defecation (ZOD).
According to UNICEF the “province’s journey towards achieving the ZOD G1 status of the Philippine Approach to Sustainable Sanitation (PhATSS) will serve as model for other local governments in the country.”
Risks
Quick notes
Legislation & Policy Analysis
The Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) sector in the Philippines is fragmented, with the mandates and efforts of a number of government agencies in this sector uncoordinated and overlapping.
Currently, the key national agencies involved in the water supply subsector are the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), the Department of Health, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Local Water Utilities Administration.
In addition, LGUs have also been given legal mandates over water and sanitation services as stipulated under the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991. At the provincial, city and municipal level, the LGUs’ responsibilities include WSS planning, financing and implementation.
Bottleneck Analysis
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