"UNICEF's success in assisting Biak Numfor district in managing environmental sanitation by completely eliminating the practice of open defecation should be emulated by the other regions in Papua," BP3OKP team member Robert Mandosir said in a statement received in Biak on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, a verification team from Papua Province's Health Office declared that Biak Numfor district had managed to completely eliminate open defecation.
Mandosir said he considers Biak Numfor's success in eliminating the practice a feat that will serve as a good precedent for other regions.
"As a newly established governmental committee, the BP3OKP would like to extend gratitude to the UNICEF for its assist to Biak Numfor district," he added.
According to Mandosir, UNICEF's assistance has helped Biak Numfor become the first region in the Land of the Paradise Bird to have successfully completed the first pillar of community-based total sanitation (STBM), which is ending open defecation.
Meanwhile, head of the UNICEF Representative Office in Papua, Aminuddin Mohammad Ramdan, said that the agency is ready to continue providing assistance to the Biak Numfor district government to achieve the other pillars of the STBM.
"UNICEF is ready to continue assisting the Biak Numfor district government to realize the second, third, fourth, and fifth pillars (of STBM)," Ramdan stated.
He also lauded the district government's eagerness to intensify the implementation of the STBM environmental sanitation program.
"Biak Numfor still needs to immediately complete the second, third, fourth, and fifth pillars of STBM," he added.
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Translator: Muhsidin, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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