Abstract
Africa is the second populous continent, and its population has the fastest growing rate. Some African countries are still plagued by poverty, poor sanitary conditions and limited resources, such as clean drinking water, food supply, electricity, and effective waste management systems. Underfunded healthcare systems, poor training and lack of awareness of policies and legislations on handling medical waste have led to increased improper handling of waste within hospitals, healthcare facilities and transportation and storage of medical waste. Some countries, including Ethiopia, Botswana, Nigeria and Algeria, do not have national guidelines in place to adhere to the correct disposal of such wastage. Incineration is often the favoured disposal method due to the rapid diminishment of up to 90% of waste, as well as production of heat for boilers or for energy production. This type of method – if not applying the right technologies – potentially creates hazardous risks of its own, such as harmful emissions and residuals. In this study, the sustainability aspects of medical waste management in Africa were reviewed to present resilient solutions for health and environment protection for the next generation in Africa. The findings of this research introduce policies, possible advices and solutions associated with sustainability and medical waste management that can support decision-makers in developing strategies for the sustainability by using the eco-friendly technologies for efficient medical waste treatment and disposal methods and also can serve as a link between the healthcare system, decision-makers, and stakeholders in developing health policies and programmes.
Highlights
Africa is the second largest continent, with the fastest growing population, and is home to 1.36 billion people
The disposal of medical wastes has been found in different developing countries include the following: open dumping or burning of wastes, it is cheap and available, reduce waste volume and avoid its spreading, but it exposes the public to health risks through direct contact or indirectly by land and water pollution as well as air pollution due to release toxic gasses into the atmosphere during the process (Nemathaga et al, 2008)
Even though it is helping to get rid of the bacteria from sharps and medical wastes that contaminated with blood and human secretions, but the autoclaved wastes should be retreated with other methods before their final disposal (Jang et al, 2006)
Summary
Africa is the second largest continent, with the fastest growing population, and is home to 1.36 billion people. Development in Africa, including agriculture, urbanisation, electrical energy production, waste management, education and infrastructure underpin socioeconomic changes across the continent (Omwoma et al, 2017). Changes like these require an enormous workforce, vast resources and extensive planning, as well as effective waste management and monitoring. All of these are in short supply in Africa (Omwoma et al, 2017). A waste management system consists of appropriate segregation and disposal, with the
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