DAGUPAN City will implement the “Sustainable Sanitation in East Asia” project of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the World Bank-water and sanitation program.

The project will be funded by the SIDA and co-funded by the World Bank, which is also the project implementor. The city will receive about $300,000 fund support for the four-year project. There are six recipients of the program in the Philippines, including Dagupan, according to the City Health Office (CHO).

The project aims to address sanitation problems and concerns in urban and rural areas, according to the city health office.

The CHO said an average of 93 Filipinos suffer from diarrhea every hour and an average of 25 Filipinos die of diarrhea every hour.

Aside from the $300,000, an additional grant will be conferred by SIDA whenever there are ongoing sanitation-related projects in the city.

The CHO said that the city was chosen because it has demonstrated ability to implement the program based on the assessment of the Department of Health and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which are the conduit participating agencies for the project.

According to the city health office, some of the activities to be undertaken would be identifying strategies for protecting the existing water source, water eco-system, and development of surveillance mechanisms for diarrheal diseases.

Other recipients of the project include some municipalities in the Mt. Province, Samar, South Cotabato, General Santos and Sarangani. (Sunshine D. Robles)