Over the last one year, m4h and its partner ETLog have been working under a Global Fund contract supporting Health Care Waste Management in Malawi, and has received new recognition and appreciation this week for its ongoing work in Malawi.
COVID-19 will increase the consumption of personal care and single-use products, especially in countries with overwhelmed or few healthcare facilities. Countries will require more robust systems for waste segregation, collection and management, and individuals will need guidance on how to safely dispose of the used medical equipment.
Poor waste management in health facilities puts health care workers, patients, and communities at risk of infection and injury from used needles and other medical waste. Effective health care waste management strategies strengthen health systems and minimize the risk of transmitting infections such as HIV and hepatitis B and C; they also protect the environment
M4h and ETLog supported a comprehensive waste audit assessment at secondary and tertiary care level to optimize and adopt stop-gap solutions during Covid-19. The assignment also included support to the Malawi MoH in the development of a HCW Policy to enable a stable legal and institutional basis to better respond to a future waste management and build capacity to segregate, handle, store, and dispose of health care waste.
m4h developed a full set of recommendations for an implementation going from 2021 to 2030 providing options for implementation, costing different technological solutions, and policy development, providing a set of options for an integrated HCWM system such as suggestions on the best treatment technologies, segregation methods and the location of some treatment hubs, as well as transportation between these hubs.
We have also explored options for the final disposal of packaging and protective equipment from COVID-19.
