Needs Assessment for Hospitals in African Countries in Relation to Infectious Waste Treatment

Demonstrating and promoting best techniques and practices for reducing health care waste to avoid environmental releases of dioxins and mercury is the initiative funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) - through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH).

The proposed Project is a global demonstration project that is being implemented in seven countries: Argentina, India, Latvia, Lebanon, Philippines, Senegal and Vietnam. The Project has an additional component to be executed mainly in Tanzania that will develop, test and disseminate affordable non-burn health-care waste treatment technologies that can be built and serviced in Sub-Saharan African countries using locally available supplies and skills.

The broad objective of the assessment was to identify the requirements in relation to infectious waste treatment for hospitals in low-income African countries. The study therefore identified types of hospitals, range or average number of beds; determined amount of waste generated in hospitals; identified costs of materials related to healthcare waste management [e.g. typical costs of sharps containers, plastic bags, pressure cookers, small locally-built incinerators, electricity, bottled gas, etc.]; and assessed the availability of skills & materials, land disposal issues, and regulations related to healthcare waste and treatment requirements.

This rapid assessment included a search for literature and documents on healthcare waste management (HCWM) in various African Countries. Questionnaires and check lists were administered to request information through International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), Global Anti-Incineration Alliance (GAIA) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) networks members in Botswana, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.