Solid medical waste: a cross sectional study of household disposal practices and reported harm in Southern Ghana
Identifieur interne : 000007 ( Pmc/Checkpoint ); précédent : 000006; suivant : 000008Solid medical waste: a cross sectional study of household disposal practices and reported harm in Southern Ghana
Auteurs : Emilia Asuquo Udofia [Ghana] ; Gabriel Gulis [Danemark] ; Julius Fobil [Ghana]Source :
- BMC Public Health [ 1471-2458 ] ; 2017.
Abstract
Solid medical waste (SMW) in households is perceived to pose minimal risks to the public compared to SMW generated from healthcare facilities. While waste from healthcare facilities is subject to recommended safety measures to minimize risks to human health and the environment, similar waste in households is often untreated and co-mingled with household waste which ends up in landfills and open dumps in many African countries. In Ghana, the management of this potentially hazardous waste stream at household and community level has not been widely reported. The objective of this study was to investigate household disposal practices and harm resulting from SMW generated in households and the community.
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 600 households was undertaken in Ga South Municipal Assembly in Accra, Ghana from mid-April to June, 2014. Factors investigated included socio-demographic characteristics, medication related practices, the belief that one is at risk of diseases associated with SMW, SMW disposal practices and reported harm associated with SMW at home and in the community.
Eighty percent and 89% of respondents discarded unwanted medicines and sharps in household refuse bins respectively. A corresponding 23% and 35% of respondents discarded these items without a container. Harm from SMW in the household and in the community was reported by 5% and 3% of respondents respectively. Persons who believed they were at risk of diseases associated with SMW were nearly three times more likely to report harm in the household (OR 2.75, 95%CI 1.15–6.54).
The belief that one can be harmed by diseases associated with SMW influenced reporting rates in the study area. Disposal practices suggest the presence of unwanted medicines and sharps in the household waste stream conferring on it hazardous properties. Given the low rates of harm reported, elimination of preventable harm might justify community intervention.
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DOI: 10.1186/s12889-017-4366-9
PubMed: 28521776
PubMed Central: 5437398
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<record><TEI><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title xml:lang="en">Solid medical waste: a cross sectional study of household disposal practices and reported harm in Southern Ghana</title><author><name sortKey="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" sort="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" uniqKey="Udofia E" first="Emilia Asuquo" last="Udofia">Emilia Asuquo Udofia</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff1"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff2"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Community Health,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Gulis, Gabriel" sort="Gulis, Gabriel" uniqKey="Gulis G" first="Gabriel" last="Gulis">Gabriel Gulis</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff3"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0001 0728 0170</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.10825.3e</institution-id><institution>Unit for Health Promotion Research,</institution><institution>University of Southern Denmark,</institution></institution-wrap>Esbjerg, Denmark</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Danemark</country><wicri:regionArea>Esbjerg</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Fobil, Julius" sort="Fobil, Julius" uniqKey="Fobil J" first="Julius" last="Fobil">Julius Fobil</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff1"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author></titleStmt><publicationStmt><idno type="wicri:source">PMC</idno><idno type="pmid">28521776</idno><idno type="pmc">5437398</idno><idno type="url">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5437398</idno><idno type="RBID">PMC:5437398</idno><idno type="doi">10.1186/s12889-017-4366-9</idno><date when="2017">2017</date><idno type="wicri:Area/Pmc/Corpus">000133</idno><idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Pmc" wicri:step="Corpus" wicri:corpus="PMC">000133</idno><idno type="wicri:Area/Pmc/Curation">000132</idno><idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Pmc" wicri:step="Curation">000132</idno><idno type="wicri:Area/Pmc/Checkpoint">000007</idno><idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Pmc" wicri:step="Checkpoint">000007</idno></publicationStmt><sourceDesc><biblStruct><analytic><title xml:lang="en" level="a" type="main">Solid medical waste: a cross sectional study of household disposal practices and reported harm in Southern Ghana</title><author><name sortKey="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" sort="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" uniqKey="Udofia E" first="Emilia Asuquo" last="Udofia">Emilia Asuquo Udofia</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff1"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff2"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Community Health,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Gulis, Gabriel" sort="Gulis, Gabriel" uniqKey="Gulis G" first="Gabriel" last="Gulis">Gabriel Gulis</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff3"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0001 0728 0170</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.10825.3e</institution-id><institution>Unit for Health Promotion Research,</institution><institution>University of Southern Denmark,</institution></institution-wrap>Esbjerg, Denmark</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Danemark</country><wicri:regionArea>Esbjerg</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Fobil, Julius" sort="Fobil, Julius" uniqKey="Fobil J" first="Julius" last="Fobil">Julius Fobil</name><affiliation wicri:level="1"><nlm:aff id="Aff1"><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</nlm:aff><country xml:lang="fr">Ghana</country><wicri:regionArea>Legon</wicri:regionArea></affiliation></author></analytic><series><title level="j">BMC Public Health</title><idno type="eISSN">1471-2458</idno><imprint><date when="2017">2017</date></imprint></series></biblStruct></sourceDesc></fileDesc><profileDesc><textClass></textClass></profileDesc></teiHeader><front><div type="abstract" xml:lang="en"><sec><title>Background</title><p>Solid medical waste (SMW) in households is perceived to pose minimal risks to the public compared to SMW generated from healthcare facilities. While waste from healthcare facilities is subject to recommended safety measures to minimize risks to human health and the environment, similar waste in households is often untreated and co-mingled with household waste which ends up in landfills and open dumps in many African countries. In Ghana, the management of this potentially hazardous waste stream at household and community level has not been widely reported. The objective of this study was to investigate household disposal practices and harm resulting from SMW generated in households and the community.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 600 households was undertaken in Ga South Municipal Assembly in Accra, Ghana from mid-April to June, 2014. Factors investigated included socio-demographic characteristics, medication related practices, the belief that one is at risk of diseases associated with SMW, SMW disposal practices and reported harm associated with SMW at home and in the community.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Eighty percent and 89% of respondents discarded unwanted medicines and sharps in household refuse bins respectively. A corresponding 23% and 35% of respondents discarded these items without a container. Harm from SMW in the household and in the community was reported by 5% and 3% of respondents respectively. Persons who believed they were at risk of diseases associated with SMW were nearly three times more likely to report harm in the household (OR 2.75, 95%CI 1.15–6.54).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The belief that one can be harmed by diseases associated with SMW influenced reporting rates in the study area. Disposal practices suggest the presence of unwanted medicines and sharps in the household waste stream conferring on it hazardous properties. 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<front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="nlm-ta">BMC Public Health</journal-id><journal-id journal-id-type="iso-abbrev">BMC Public Health</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>BMC Public Health</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">1471-2458</issn><publisher><publisher-name>BioMed Central</publisher-name><publisher-loc>London</publisher-loc></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="pmid">28521776</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="pmc">5437398</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">4366</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1186/s12889-017-4366-9</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Solid medical waste: a cross sectional study of household disposal practices and reported harm in Southern Ghana</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes"><name><surname>Udofia</surname><given-names>Emilia Asuquo</given-names></name><address><email>eudofia@ug.edu.gh</email><email>emiliaudf@yahoo.com</email></address><xref ref-type="aff" rid="Aff1">1</xref><xref ref-type="aff" rid="Aff2">2</xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><name><surname>Gulis</surname><given-names>Gabriel</given-names></name><address><email>ggulis@health.sdu.dk</email></address><xref ref-type="aff" rid="Aff3">3</xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author"><name><surname>Fobil</surname><given-names>Julius</given-names></name><address><email>jfobil@ug.edu.gh</email></address><xref ref-type="aff" rid="Aff1">1</xref></contrib><aff id="Aff1"><label>1</label><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Biological, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</aff><aff id="Aff2"><label>2</label><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0004 1937 1485</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.8652.9</institution-id><institution>Department of Community Health,</institution><institution>School of Public Health, University of Ghana,</institution></institution-wrap>Legon, Ghana</aff><aff id="Aff3"><label>3</label><institution-wrap><institution-id institution-id-type="ISNI">0000 0001 0728 0170</institution-id><institution-id institution-id-type="GRID">grid.10825.3e</institution-id><institution>Unit for Health Promotion Research,</institution><institution>University of Southern Denmark,</institution></institution-wrap>Esbjerg, Denmark</aff></contrib-group><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>18</day><month>5</month><year>2017</year></pub-date><pub-date pub-type="pmc-release"><day>18</day><month>5</month><year>2017</year></pub-date><pub-date pub-type="collection"><year>2017</year></pub-date><volume>17</volume><elocation-id>464</elocation-id><history><date date-type="received"><day>25</day><month>8</month><year>2016</year></date><date date-type="accepted"><day>4</day><month>5</month><year>2017</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>© The Author(s). 2017</copyright-statement><license license-type="OpenAccess"><license-p><bold>Open Access</bold>This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link>), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/</ext-link>) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.</license-p></license></permissions><abstract id="Abs1"><sec><title>Background</title><p>Solid medical waste (SMW) in households is perceived to pose minimal risks to the public compared to SMW generated from healthcare facilities. While waste from healthcare facilities is subject to recommended safety measures to minimize risks to human health and the environment, similar waste in households is often untreated and co-mingled with household waste which ends up in landfills and open dumps in many African countries. In Ghana, the management of this potentially hazardous waste stream at household and community level has not been widely reported. The objective of this study was to investigate household disposal practices and harm resulting from SMW generated in households and the community.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 600 households was undertaken in Ga South Municipal Assembly in Accra, Ghana from mid-April to June, 2014. Factors investigated included socio-demographic characteristics, medication related practices, the belief that one is at risk of diseases associated with SMW, SMW disposal practices and reported harm associated with SMW at home and in the community.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Eighty percent and 89% of respondents discarded unwanted medicines and sharps in household refuse bins respectively. A corresponding 23% and 35% of respondents discarded these items without a container. Harm from SMW in the household and in the community was reported by 5% and 3% of respondents respectively. Persons who believed they were at risk of diseases associated with SMW were nearly three times more likely to report harm in the household (OR 2.75, 95%CI 1.15–6.54).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The belief that one can be harmed by diseases associated with SMW influenced reporting rates in the study area. Disposal practices suggest the presence of unwanted medicines and sharps in the household waste stream conferring on it hazardous properties. Given the low rates of harm reported, elimination of preventable harm might justify community intervention.</p></sec></abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><title>Keywords</title><kwd>Healthcare waste</kwd><kwd>Medical waste</kwd><kwd>Disposal</kwd><kwd>Community</kwd><kwd>Ghana</kwd><kwd>Waste management</kwd></kwd-group><custom-meta-group><custom-meta><meta-name>issue-copyright-statement</meta-name><meta-value>© The Author(s) 2017</meta-value></custom-meta></custom-meta-group></article-meta></front></pmc><affiliations><list><country><li>Danemark</li><li>Ghana</li></country></list><tree><country name="Ghana"><noRegion><name sortKey="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" sort="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" uniqKey="Udofia E" first="Emilia Asuquo" last="Udofia">Emilia Asuquo Udofia</name></noRegion><name sortKey="Fobil, Julius" sort="Fobil, Julius" uniqKey="Fobil J" first="Julius" last="Fobil">Julius Fobil</name><name sortKey="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" sort="Udofia, Emilia Asuquo" uniqKey="Udofia E" first="Emilia Asuquo" last="Udofia">Emilia Asuquo Udofia</name></country><country name="Danemark"><noRegion><name sortKey="Gulis, Gabriel" sort="Gulis, Gabriel" uniqKey="Gulis G" first="Gabriel" last="Gulis">Gabriel Gulis</name></noRegion></country></tree></affiliations></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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