Algeria's economic and social development has generated large
quantities of waste, including hazardous waste. Despite the efforts made and
the legislation enacted, the management and treatment of this waste continue to
present significant challenges. The production of these harmful materials has
become a source of problems, not only of insalubrity but also of public health.
Healthcare activities help to protect health, cure patients and save lives. But
they also generate waste, approximately 20% of which represents an infectious,
toxic, traumatic, or radioactive risk.
The main problems concerning healthcare waste are a lack of
awareness of health hazards, inadequate training in waste management, the
absence of waste management and disposal systems, insufficient financial and
human resources, and the low priority given to the issue. Inadequate management
of healthcare waste is a serious concern in many developing countries due to
the risks posed to human health and the environment. Poor management of health
care wastes exposes healthcare workers, waste handlers and the community to
different risks, including infections, toxic effects and injuries. Risk
Management is a process for identifying hazards associated with a product,
estimating and evaluating the associated risks, controlling these risks, and
monitoring the effectiveness of the control. In Algeria, many efforts have been
made by the government authorities in order to better manage the waste from
healthcare facilities. However, most healthcare facilities do not comply with
the principles stated in Algerian legislation. According to the Agence
Nationale des Déchets (AND), the amount of healthcare waste generated in
Algeria was around 35,000 t/year in 2018. The problem of managing this waste is
acute, given the quantities generated and the lack of resources and specialized
professional channels for its collection and treatment. In the hospital of
Batna city, a total of about 1114 Kg of healthcare risk wastes are produced
each day. The results indicated that the rate was 1.75 kg/bed/day which is
higher than the national value of 0.72 kg/bed/day. However, waste management
practices are not free from challenges. Thus, several injuries and infections
associated with health care risk wastes were recorded in different services of
the hospital of Batna. This study provides the Preliminary Hazard Analysis
(PHA) for the Health Care Risk Waste (HCRW). This assessment tool is part of an
overall strategy that aims at reducing the disease burden caused by poor
healthcare waste management (HCWM) through the promotion of best practices of
safety standards.
Author
(s) Details
Sefouhi
Linda
Natural Risks and Territory Planning Laboratory (LRNAT), Institute
of Industrial Hygiene and Safety, Batna 2 University, Batna, Algeria.
Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/dhrni/v5/2056
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