30% of Jakartans do not have access to toilets

JAKARTA (JP): Some three million Jakartans, or 30 percent of the capital's population, do not use toilets when they relieve themselves, a city official said on Monday.

Head of the city office of the Ministry of Health Dedy Ruswendi said that even though the remaining 70 percent of Jakartans do use toilets, it did not mean they own the facility because some of them used public toilets.

He said most people who do not have access to toilets relieved themselves in rivers and canals, causing water pollution.

"The lack of toilets, together with a lack of clean water and unhealthy habits are the biggest causes of diarrhea," he told reporters at City Hall after a meeting on a planned sanitation week drive.

Dedy said health problems in the city were exacerbated by limited drinking, adding that only 59 percent of clean water in the city was drinkable after boiling.

The poor conditions regularly cause diarrhea, with 16.5 people per 1,000 being affected, according to the office's environmental health subdivision staffer Frida Mutiara.

Based on ministry data, toilet availability in Indonesia is the lowest in the region compared to neighboring countries like Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands.

Nationwide, toilet availability is 59.34 percent with the incidents of diarrhea reaching 280 per 1,000, Frida said but gave no details on the figures in other countries.

Dedy said that due to the poor condition, the administration planned to declare a sanitation week drive on July 28 in relation to National Health Day on Nov. 12.

During the drive, which will be officiated by Governor Sutiyoso on July 28, the administration will facilitate the establishment of family or public toilets in slum areas.

Dedy said that during the drive the administration would give technical assistance on bathroom construction and distribute a "stimulating fund" to the poorest families in slum areas which will be pilot projects.

The pilot projects will be in the Matraman district in East Jakarta, Cipete Selatan subdistrict in South Jakarta, Rawa Buaya subdistrict in West Jakarta, Marunda subdistrict in North Jakarta and Tanah Tinggi subdistrict in Central Jakarta.

However, the exact amount of the project fund was not available as of Monday.

In another development, Dedy said 243 children in the city had been hospitalized for malnutrition since December last year. Seven of them have died.

Early this year, at least 3,000 cases of malnutrition in children under five years old had been detected in the city.

Dedy said that to enhance the quality of children's health, the health office planned to intensify Posyandu", activities on periodical checkups of mother and children under five years old jointly conducted by community members and local community health center officials.

He said the activity would be conducted once a week instead of once a month at present.

There are about 4,000 Posyandu in the city, with 1,800 of them not fully operational due to broken facilities or inactive members, he said.(ind)