City to institutionalize hand-hygiene behavioral prompts

The city government will institutionalize the maintenance of hand-washing behavioral prompts to promote hygiene practices and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases.

This, after the 21^st City Council headed by Vice Mayor Bebot Rodriguez enacted an ordinance mandating the installation of hand-washing facilities and behavioral nudges in priority settings in the city.

This ordinance seeks for provision of functioning handwashing facilities with soap and water or sanitation stations with alcohol-based hand rub dispensers in schools, offices and workplaces, public markets and grocery stores, food and service establishments, temporary shelters and evacuation centers.

It will also be put up in public places like malls, hotels, and other accommodations, transport terminals and ports of entry, historical and heritage sites, local tourist destinations, sports, and recreational spaces.

Behavioral nudges, which are prompts or cues designed to alter behavior in a predictable way, will be strategically placed near hand-washing stations to remind individuals to wash their hands regularly, especially before meals and after using public facilities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Health (DOH) highly encourage the improvement of handwashing facilities and the use of proven behavior-change techniques to enable more frequent and proper hand hygiene as one of the most important measures in preventing COVID-19 infection.

The committees on health, nutrition, health insurance and on laws and rules, chaired by Councilors Paolo Nicolo Gaane and Edgar Cabanlas, sponsored the ordinance. (JBD/SP)