Practices on healthcare waste segregation Bagamoyo Town Council in Tanzania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71637/tnhj.v25i1.876Keywords:
Healthcare wastes, waste segregation, colour coding, risk factors, facilities, TanzaniaAbstract
Background: Segregation of healthcare waste is increasingly of great concern globally. Study assessed the practice of healthcare waste segregation in Bagamoyo Town Council, Tanzania
Methods: The study employed quantitative research approaches with Cross-sectional study design. The questionnaire was employed for data collection from a sample of 80 participants. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was employed to analyse the data collected.
Results: The study indicates that only 22.5% of healthcare workers had received training on proper segregation of healthcare wastes, 21.3% are aware of regulations, and >50% of healthcare workers were not aware on different bins used in segregation of healthcare wastes. These signify low level of knowledge. For institutional factors; 31.3% of health workers had clear guidelines and procedures for healthcare waste as emphasized, 37.5% of healthcare workers were emphasized on proper segregation of healthcare wastes, 31.3% of healthcare workers had proper containers for different types of healthcare wastes, 27.5% of healthcare workers supported that there are enough resources allocated to manage healthcare waste segregation, and 33.8% of healthcare workers were aware of the potential health and environmental risks on improper healthcare waste segregation.
Conclusion: The practice of healthcare waste segregation in Bagamoyo Town Council is still poor due to the low level of knowledge of health staff involved in the daily healthcare waste segregation, poor institutional factors associated with healthcare waste segregation, and low risk perceptions of the health staff toward healthcare waste segregation.
Downloads
References
1. Sehar et al. Waste management in indonesian public health centres: factors associated with waste segregation practices and disposal methods Pengelolaan Limbah di Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat Indonesia: Faktor-Faktor yang Berhubungan dengan Praktik Pemisahan Limbah dan Metode Pembuangan.2019; 1–14.
2. World Health Organisation (WHO). Health care waste management plan. October, 2024; https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-care-waste
3. Babirye J, Vuzi P, Mutekanga DR. Factors Influencing Adherence to Proper Health Care Waste Management Practices among Health Workers in Wakiso District, Uganda. 2020; 4(2), 96–111. https://doi.org/10.26502/jesph.96120088.
4. Sapkota CM, Choolwe C, Id C, Id JMN, Id K B, Mibenge C, Chalwe V, Biemba G, Chilengi S, Id S, Mwale FK. PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care waste management among Zambian health care workers. 2022; 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000655 5.
5. Yazie et al. Solid health care waste management status at health care centers in the West Bank – Palestinian Territory. 2019; (29) 2398–2403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2009.03.014 6.
6. Manyele SV, Lyasenga TJ. Factors affecting medical waste management in low- level health facilities in Tanzania. 2010; 4(May), 304–318.
7. Mwaria PR., Kaseva ME, Manyele SV. Characterization of healthcare waste in Tanzanian zonal referral hospitals as a key factor for energy recovery. 2021;15(September), 349–365. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2020.2917 8.
8. Kihila JM, Wernsted K, Kaseva M, Wernsted K. Waste segregation and potential for recycling -A case study in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. Sustainable Environment, 2021; 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2021.1935532 9.
9. Khan JA L I. Hospital waste management issues and steps taken by the government of Pakistan. Oct 2006.
10. Manyele SV, Anicetus H. Management of medical waste in Tanzanian hospitals. 2006; 8(3), 177–182.
11. Kothari CR. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. Delhi: New Age International Publisher. 2011.
12. Akulume M, Kiwanuka SN. Health Care Waste Segregation Behavior among Health Workers in Uganda: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior. 2016.
13. Mesfin A, Worku W, Gizaw Z. Assessment of Health Care Waste Segregation Practice and Associated Factors of Health Care Workers. 2014; 2(7), 201– 207. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujph.2014.020703 14.
14. Motlatla M, Maluleke TX. Assessment of Knowledge about Healthcare Risk Waste Management at a Tertiary Hospital in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. 2021.
15. Kulwa D. Assessment of the effectiveness of medical waste management strategies and their adoption in Mwanza district. 2010.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Erasto Kinemelo, Edina Simon
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
