Health Waste Assessment Project
HCWH-AP launched the Health Care Waste Assessment Project (HWAP) in the Philippines with the following objectives:
- Draw up baseline data on good health care waste management practices
- Identify the types of health care waste generated per hospital and the total volume of health care wastes generated by the facility/locality
- Draw up existing waste management systems and procedures with particular attention to good practices and problems encountered
- Determine the actual costs of existing waste management systems in the hospitals under study
- Develop a health care waste assessment procedure appropriate in the Philippine health care setting and also for adaptation in other Asia Pacific countries.
The results and recommendations of the Health Care Waste Assessment Project will allow the healthcare facilities being studied to improve their waste processing systems.
Hopefully, the highlighted good practices of a hospital / health care facility would serve as model to other hospitals in the region. By laying out these practices, we’re laying the groundwork for these institutions to adapt and integrate better procedures.
Results of the Philippine study will further refine the suitable health care waste assessment processes for Asia Pacific.
The Health Care Waste Assessment Project employs the following process:
- Stage 1 is gathering of preliminary data, which include document review, interview with the hospital administrators and members of the waste management committee and preliminary walk-through in the hospital.
- Stage 2 is a validation of preliminary data gathered from Stage 1 and further validation through focus group discussions.
- Stage 3 is the final validation of data gathered from Stages 1 and 2 through actual walk-through assessments and observing the waste management practices from waste collection, waste segregation, actual weighing of health care wastes, transport and final disposal.
- Stage 4 is the collation and analysis of data gathered from Stages 1 to 3. Collated data are analyzed and initial results are given in the form of case studies to all hospitals.