Management of Solid Health - Care Waste at Primary Health - Care Centres: A Decision Making Guide

The objectives of this document is to provide guidence for selecting the most appropriate for safety managing solid waste generated at primary health centres in developing countries. The main tool of this guide consists of six decision-trees aimed at assiting the user in identifying appropriate waste management methods. The guide takes into consideration the most relevant local conditions, the safety of workers and of the general public as well as to environmental criteria. This guide is composed following parts: i. basic risks assiciated with poor management of healthcaere waste. ii. basic elements for safe health-care waste management(HCWM). iii, parameters to assess before selecting HCWM. iv. technical annexes describing HCWM options. v. estimation of cost of the various options. This guide may also be used to evaluate existing practices related to health-care waster management. More detailed sources of information on handling and storage practices, tecnical options for treatment and disposal of wates, training and personal pratection, and assessment of a countrys situation, are presented in annex A.