Assessment of Healthcare Waste Management Practices Employed by Health Workers in Health Facilities in Bushenyi District Western Uganda

Globally healthcare waste has been identified as a major problem that has the potential of impacting negatively on both human health and environment for decades. The study was conducted to assess healthcare waste management practices employed by health workers in health facilities in Bushenyi District western Uganda. The study design adapted was a descriptive and cross sectional type and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Twelve out of a total of 38 health facilities present in the district were selected. A range of methods employed for the collection of data included questionnaire survey which targeted 340 stratified randomly selected healthcare workers, formal interviews as well as field observations. The results depicts that majority of the respondents 263 (77.4%) agreed that healthcare waste was been segregated at their facilities while 51 (15%) denied the existence of segregation. However observations revealed that Segregation was applied only to sharps which was collected in special sharp boxes Furthermore 47 (13.8%) of the respondents do not use protective equipment when handling healthcare waste while majority of the respondents 293 (86.2%) have agreed to usage of protective equipment. The use of hands was identified as the most common mode of transportation as indicated 214 (62.9%) of the respondents while open pit burning was identified as the commonest method of waste disposal. Based on the study findings it was revealed that healthcare waste was improperly managed and majority of healthcare workers were not in compliance with Ugandans health workers guide.