COVID-19 & Healthcare Waste

This interim guidance, dated 29 July 2020, supplements the infection prevention and control (IPC) documents by summarizing WHO guidance on water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and waste management relevant to viruses, including coronaviruses. For more information: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-IPC-WASH-2020.4. Also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

This document highlights the key aspects of safe health-care waste management in order to guide policy-makers, practitioners and facility managers to improve such services in health-care facilities. It is based on the comprehensive WHO handbook Safe management of wastes from health-care activities (WHO, 2014). Also available in French and Russian. For more information: https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/safe-management-of-waste-summary/en

Interim guidance dated 1 April 2020, WHO recommends member states provide universal access to public hand hygiene stations and making their use obligatory on entering and leaving any public or private commercial building and any public transport facility. It is also recommended that healthcare facilities improve access to and practice of hand hygiene. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/recommendations-to-member-states-to-improve-hand-hygiene-practices-to-help-prevent-the-transmission-of-the-covid-19-virus

15 May 2020 dated interim guidance aims to reduce any role that fomites might play in the transmission of COVID-19 in health-care and non-health care settings. For more information: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/cleaning-and-disinfection-of-environmental-surfaces-inthe-context-of-covid-19

Part A of this guide provides a practical guide for use at the pharmacy bench during the actual preparation of the formulation. Users may want to display the material on the wall of the production unit. Part B summarizes some essential background technical information and is taken from WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care (2009). Within Part B the user has access to important safety and cost information and supplementary material relating to dispensers and distribution. For more information: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/guide-to-local-production-who-recommended-handrub-formulations

Dated 13 November 2020, this document provides interim guidance on the quality, performance characteristics and related standards of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used in the context of COVID-19. This includes WHO Priority Medical Devices, specifically: surgical masks, non-surgical masks, gloves, goggles, face shields, gowns and N95 masks. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-PPE_specifications-2020.1

For more information on the Basel Convention Technical Guidelines – http://www.basel.int/Implementation/TechnicalMatters/DevelopmentofTechnicalGuidelines/TechnicalGuidelines/tabid/8025/Default.aspx

Zip file of factsheets: 1. Introduction to COVID-19 waste management; 2. National medical waste capacity assessment; 3. How to choose your waste management technology to treat COVID-19 waste; 4. Policy and legislation linked to COVID-19 pandemics; 5. Links to circularity – Non-healthcare waste; 6. Linkages of Air quality and COVID-19; 7. Household medical waste management strategies; 8. Disaster and conflict; 9. COVID-19, wastewater, and sanitation. Also available in French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. For more information: https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/factsheet/covid-19-waste-management-factsheets

Project’s technical lessons learnt report. For more information: https://greenhealthcarewaste.org/reducing-upops-and-mercury-releases-from-the-health-sector-in-africa-ghana-madagascar-tanzania-and-zambia

The FAQ document was developed as emergency response on questions on Healthcare Waste (HCW) issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zip file of training materials including segregation, logistics and treatment options in compliance with Stockholm Convention for COVID-19 healthcare waste.

A chart giving various treatment options and considerations for COVID-19 healthcare waste based on different circumstances.

Summary of support on healthcare waste management in Ghana during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This included policy briefs shared with the National COVID-19 team, monitoring and enforcement for infection prevention controls and support for local sanitizer producers.

Zip folder containing HCWM training modules developed by GEF/Regional Africa project to train master trainers in Africa. Training package includes modules ranging from health care waste treatment, phasing out mercury, sanitation to emergency responses and National Health Care Waste Planning. It also includes training programme and workshop materials.

The I-RAT is a rapid assessment tool (in excel) to obtain an initial indication of the level of healthcare waste management at an individual healthcare facility. The I-RAT is based on WHO’s Rapid Assessment Tool (RAT), which can be found at: https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/facilities/waste/hcwmtool/en/. Unlike the RAT which evaluates the HCWM situation on a national level, the I-RAT is intended for use at the individual healthcare facility level. Also available in French and Russian.

Specifications for personal protective equipment (PPE), consumables, logistic, transport and storage equipment as well as waste treatment equipment for health care waste management. Also considered as best practices for green, sustainable procurement on healthcare waste management, implemented by UNDP GEF regional Africa project.

Excel file – List of estimated costs and equipment – including personal protective equipment (PPE), consumables, logistic, transport and storage equipment as well as waste treatment equipment – needed to set up onsite waste treatment solutions in healthcare facilities ranging in size, up to 300 beds hospital.

Health Care Without Harm. For more information: https://noharm-europe.org/documents/health-care-waste-management-coronavirus-update

Sample designs for hospitals and health care facilities including plumbing, electricity and design recommendations.

Technical specifications, for non-mercury containing devices (mercury alternatives) including sphygmomanometers, cuffs, stethoscopes, batteries and digital thermometers; as an example of sustainable, green procurement practices, produced and implemented by UNDP GEF regional Africa project.

Summary of COVID-19 Rapid Assessment (conducted by Engineers Without Borders – EWB) for the prevailing health care waste systems, legal framework, and the development of a generic strategy to improve Health Care Waste Management, with assessment of surveys to the government, private and public service providers and healthcare facilities in seven countries with separate annexes of country specific reports: Ghana, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Panama, Serbia, Sudan, Zimbabwe.

For more information: https://www.iswa.org/iswa/covid-19/