EDITORIAL - Old problems

President Arroyo visited a public school near Malacañang yesterday to inspect preparations for the start of classes including preventive measures against Influenza A(H1N1). The President, who demonstrated flu etiquette as well as the health benefits of hand washing, was reportedly peeved when she could not find a garbage bin for the tissue paper that she used to wipe her hands at the Geronimo Santiago Elementary School.

The President should get angry more often, and the target of her ire should include the lack of water in many public schools. Health experts have called attention to this problem, which has been blamed for outbreaks of diseases including typhoid and cholera especially among grade school students. Bottled water is too expensive for the poor; many children in public schools get their drinking water straight from the tap. But in several schools, there isn’t enough water even for hand washing. Where there is water, soap is rare.

When there is a shortage of water, toilets cannot be flushed regularly and general hygiene throughout the school suffers. In many public schools, toilet facilities are limited, and the lack of water for sanitation and regular cleaning turns these toilets into breeding grounds for all types of germs. Young school children, especially those whose immune systems have been weakened by malnutrition, are particularly vulnerable to diseases contracted through dirty hands.

Even as the government goes on full alert for the possible spread of A(H1N1) with the opening of classes, it should also watch out for the other health hazards that have long been around in many public schools. Dirty surroundings and contaminated water expose school children to health hazards. Breeding grounds for mosquitoes are created, posing the risk of dengue especially during the rainy season. By this time all local governments should be launching mosquito-eradication campaigns, through clean-up drives and by spraying insecticide even in private neighborhoods. Drainage systems and even the smallest creeks should be cleaned up.

These problems have been around long before the first confirmed case of A(H1N1) in the world was recorded in the US state of Wisconsin four years ago. These problems have been around even before SARS and avian influenza popped up. Perhaps it would take the threat of a pandemic to bring soap, water and garbage bins to all Philippine public schools.