The Suku of Bahamori, in the Administrative Post of Venilale, in the Municipality of Baucau was declared an Open Defecation Free Area (ALFA) on 15 January 2015.
The ALFA declaration is part of the implementation of PAKSI (Action Plan for Community Sanitation and Hygiene) of the Ministry of Health (MoH) in partnership with the Australian Aid funded BESIK (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Community) Program.
PAKSI’s seek to change behaviour in the community, in particular in rural areas, to not defecate in the open so communities live in a healthier and more hygienic environment.
To celebrate receiving ALFA status and the success of the implementation of the PAKSI program, the Ministry of Health goes through a process of verification to ensure all homes in a aldeia (hamlet) have and use a toilet. Once positive verification is determined the MoH awards a certificate that proves all of the homes in aldeias in a suku are ALFA.
Along with the ALFA certificate, the six aldeias – Cumo Oli, Neoho’o, Caimali Ho’o, Lia Oli, Lacouma – in the Suku of Bahamori also received a prize from the MoH in recognition of their ALFA status. The Suco of Bahamori has a total population of 2,522 and 519 households across the six aldeias.
“I want to congratulate the communities belonging to the Suku of Bahamori because you have been working hard to ensure you live in an healthy environment. I hope the villages in the Suku of Bahamori will retain the ALFA status,” said the National Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Carlito Correia Freitas.
“The Ministry of Health through the policies and priorities of the V Constitutional Government is addressing the issue of basic sanitation in the country. Reports on sanitation note that in Timor-Leste, the area of sanitation coverage is still very limited. In urban areas it now stands at 35% and in remote areas it has only reached the 25% mark,” added Director Freitas.
BESIK’s Environmental Health Advisor Setyo Edi said PAKSI is focussed on changing the attitudes towards sani-tation and hygiene in the community and the Suku of Bahamori was able to demonstrate this objective is possible to achieve.
“The PAKSI is not focussed not just on building toilet infrastructure but it is also about addressing community behaviour. If today the Suku of Bahamori has been declared ALFA, this is not just because all homes have a toilet, but it also means everyone knows how to use a toilet and to wash their hands with soap after defecating,” said BESIK Advisor Edi. “The Suku of Bahamori fulfils the criteria and is an example to all other suku’s in Timor-Leste.”
PAKSI is being imple-mented by the Ministry of Health with support from BESIK with funds from the Australian government and started being implemented in 2012. The implementation of PAKSI started in three municipalities, Baucau, Liqui-ça, and Bobonaro.
Currenlty 15 aldeias in Tmor-Leste have been declared open defecation free areas ALFA.
