Search Results

Mercury-Free Health CareSAICM and KEMI Web Resources Mercury-Free Health Care Pictures of change: Our public Service Announcements First, Do No Harm – VJ Judah Paolo opens the call to medical professionals to shun the use of mercury in health care. Make the Switch – VJ Judah Paolo talks about the dangers of mercury in health care and the environment.Have A Heart – Some heartfelt words from actor/director Albert Martinez on how he became part of the campaign to phase-out mercury in health care. General ResourcesDealing With Mercury SpillsWebsitesModel PoliciesReports, Articles, and GuidesLocal ResourcesIndiaGuidelines issued by India’s Central Government in May 2010 to phase-out mercury containing equipment from all government-run hospitalsDelhi plan to phase-out mercury based medical devices in hospitals under its jurisdictionTaiwanNational policy to phase-out mercury thermometersSouth KoreaElimination of PVC from IV bags in...

An introduction to the networkThe Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network (GGHHN) is a worldwide community of hospitals, health care systems, and organizations dedicated to reducing the ecological footprint of health care operations, in order to promote environmental and public health.  The Network is based on members' commitment to implement the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Agenda by developing more sustainable practices and by measuring progress over time.  The GGHH community shares solutions and best practices.  GGHH is a project of Health Care Without Harm.   The Issue We face a public health crisis involving widespread human disease and death. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined environmental factors such as unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and hygiene, indoor and outdoor pollution, workplace hazards, industrial accidents, automobile accidents, climate change, poor land use practices, and poor natural resource management. We believe that these same environmental factors are the causes of...

The GGHH aims to promote greater sustainability and environmental health in the health sector, as well as support existing efforts around the world. Through these efforts, we hope to create a global health care network that is both greener and more unified.To achieve this, we’ve created a framework made up of ten interconnected goals. Each contains a series of Action Items for hospitals and health systems to implement.  Most hospitals will want to focus on two or three goals, and chart a course for specific steps to achieve them, with a plan to subsequently move on to the next challenge.  The Ten Goals:1. LEADERSHIPAgenda intent:• Prioritize environmental health as a strategic imperative.• Demonstrate leadership support for green and healthy hospitals in order to: create long-term organizational culture change; realize widespread hospital worker and community engagement; and foster public policy...

While the GGHH is a young organization, some very well-respected institutions have become founding members in all three membership categories: Hospitals, Health Systems, and Health Organizations. This roster includes institutions from countries on six continents. Hospitals in Asia play a vital role in this global network. Below are lists of hospitals, health systems and organizations in the region that have pledged to adopt greener and healthier procedures.Health system membersDepartment of Health - GREEN and CLEAN Hospitals Program (Thailand) with its 746 hospitals and 3,099 sub district hospitals under the Bureau of Environmental Health, Department of Health, Ministry of Health is one of the health system member to the Network committing to publicize through the GREEN and CLEAN Hospitals program the Agenda and encourage their members to join and share their experiences. The system pledged to work on four goals: leadership, energy, waste, and food. St. Paul de Chartres...

Health Care Without Harm in Asia is committed to making health care greener. In 2019, our global programs are accelerating the reduction of health care greenhouse gas emissions, building greater health system resilience, protecting people from the health impacts of biomedical waste, and reducing the social and environmental footprint of health care’s supply chain.Most importantly, we continue to build an ever growing and more dynamic set of networks—a worldwide community.To know more about our programs, and the issues they address in the Region, click below:Climate Change and Health in AsiaPlastics in HealthcareSafer ChemicalsGlobal Green and Healthy HospitalsDo No Harm AwardsWe are also on Social Media!#HealthyHospitals4All#HealthForClimate

It’s a strange twist that efforts to heal the sick and make people healthier can create waste products that harm others. Hospitals generate medical waste that, if not processed properly, can harm those exposed to it.Read more about Medical Waste, its sources, and our campaigns to control it, but clicking below:Know the IssueWaste MinimizationPromoting Alternative TechnologiesModel HospitalsMedWaste Country SpotlightTools & Resources

Substituting Mercury-Based Devices in IndiaA lot has happened after a small report was released which documented the yearly release of this toxic heavy metal from health facilities using mercury based instruments and products. Many hospitals turned mercury free voluntarily and a few more shifted recently after the Delhi government order to phase out the use of mercury in the hospitals. To be mercury-free might be a voluntary decision for a few more years, but as environmental laws and quality accreditations become stricter this might be a mandatory requirement soon. Thus it is time for all of us to do some introspection and start changing. The experiences of people who have changed have been documented in the report and a small chronicle of what has happened on the mercury front has been profiled to help people in their journey to go ‘mercury free’.Download the complete document hereYou can...

Strength From Disaster on the Anniversary of Nepal EarthquakeOne year on from the devastating Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, which killed more that 8,000 people, injured 22,000 and damaged or destroyed some thousand hospitals or health care centers, Health Care Without Harm, with strategic partner Health Care Foundation Nepal (HECAF), and Tzu Chi Foundation (Taiwan), organized a conference to disseminate lessons learned over the last twelve months and develop strategies to increase the resilience of the healthcare sector against similar events in the future. The conference,“Strength from Disaster: Lessons from the Gorkha earthquake and other global crises as catalysts to create a resilient health care system”was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Association of Private Health Institution Nepal, Association of Non-Government Hospitals and the World Health Organization, at the Hotel Annapurna, Kathmandu, Nepal on 26th and 27th April 2016 (14th and 15th Baisakh 2073). [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"5411","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"270","style":"display...

Anti-mercury awareness has taken root in the Philippines. It wasn’t always like that, though. Before our anti-mercury campaign started in 2005, the dangers of mercury in health care wasn’t that well-known. All that changed after the first Southeast Asia Conference on Mercury was held in Manila in 2006. The conference brought the issue to light. The gathering was the tipping-point HCWH-Asia needed. Due to the convincing facts discussed, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III pledged to author policies that mandate the phasing-out of mercury.The next year, Philippine Heart Center, together with St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao, the Manila Adventist Hospital, and San Juan De Dios Hospital started their own mercury phase-out programs. In August 11, 2008, Administrative Order 21 of the Department of Health was signed. It ordered the gradual phase-out of all mercury-containing devices in all Philippine hospitals by 2010.By 2009, more than 50 hospitals had...

South Korea Eliminates PVC from Ivy BagsThe use of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) causes problems due to endocrine disruptors such as Dietheylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP)and dioxins. However, patients in South Korea were not aware that even their IV bags often contained PVC with DEHP. To solve this serious situation, the KFEM Seoul office started a campaign to eliminate PVC from IV bags starting 2005. The campaign succeeded in convincing all IV bag producers in South Korea to pledge that they would replace all of their products with non-PVC products by 2006.Download the document from the librarySouth Korea: World Medical Association Statement on Reducing the Global Burden of MercuryRead the statement here.

Taiwan boasts many hospitals and health facilities that are doing amazing work in reducing their environmental impact. With 19 member hospitals and health systems in the country, the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals  Asia team recently visited Taiwan to learn about the projects and strategies that GGHH members are implementing to achieve their agenda goals.GGHH ForumWith the support of Taiwan's Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) Network, the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Forum was held on September 24 at the Taiwan Adventist Hospital. Representatives from over 100 hospitals and health facilities in the country attended to know more about how they can be a part of GGHH and presented their own sustainable health care practices.  Health Care Without Harm-Asia's Director Merci Ferrer presented the organization's work in the region to promote environmental health, while GGHH Coordinator Faye Ferrer shared some of the...