Management of Healthcare Generated Waste: Ghanaian Urban and Rural Hospitals in Perspective

Abstract

Management of healthcare waste has not ceased to be an issue of public concern. This referent waste has the potency of risking the health of sundry. Unlike waste generated in other sectors, healthcare waste is more hazardous, having that it contains materials that are dangerous and potentially infectious. This characteristic of healthcare waste makes its management a need in recent times. Several papers have reported how that health facilities in many developing countries have found this waste management a great challenge and of course, a force to reckon with. However, considering Ghana as one of such countries, the present article juxtaposes healthcare waste management in public hospitals in the urban areas with those in rural communities. The study sampled four government hospitals, two each from cities and villages. The authors employed such measures as site-visits, interviews with health workers and people responsible for waste management in the hospitals, and waste quantification in the considered facilities in order to reach a concrete analysis. The study seeks to identify how location has bearing on the amount of hospital waste produced as well as its management practices and to be an eye-opener in the course of solving healthcare waste management issues in Ghana.