Sustainable healthcare waste management: a step towards a greener future – updates

Sustainable healthcare waste management: a step towards a greener future

December 19, 2024

– The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), in cooperation with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNICEF and technical advisor Mott MacDonald Ltd, organized a workshop on sustainable health and waste management on December 3-5, 2024 care in developing countries. The event brought together participants from 22 countries, mainly from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, who profit from donor funding or funding for interventions geared toward improving healthcare waste management systems.

Building on Gavi’s mid-2023 assessment, which highlighted key initiatives to enhance healthcare waste management, the workshop sought to create actionable plans for long-term sustainability. The Global Fund has already committed USD 84 million under its latest grant cycle and Covid-19 response mechanism to strengthen waste management systems in over 40 countries. In addition, Gavi has invested roughly $18 million in 29 countries, underscoring our shared commitment to this key issue.

Over three days, 48 ​​participants from 22 countries (mainly from Africa, Asia and the Pacific) took part in sessions geared toward facilitating knowledge sharing and developing tailored, budgeted two-year medical waste motion plans for his or her countries. Open discussions allowed participants to collaborate on the challenges they face and share effective practices.

The workshop also focused on the importance of adopting climate-friendly waste management solutions, highlighting the advantages of green technologies, logistics, infrastructure, financing and stakeholder engagement. Key topics included:

• Transport and logistics
• Purchase and maintenance of apparatus
• Financial planning
• Public-private partnerships

Facilitators provided tools for assessing and implementing sustainable practices, together with models that help map current opportunities and discover areas for improvement. Recognizing the important thing role of environmentally sustainable practices, participants discussed integrating climate considerations into healthcare subsidies and measuring the carbon impact of waste treatment processes.

Notable presentations included Eswatini’s successful 10-year healthcare waste management plan and Indonesia’s modern digital waste tracking system that increases efficiency and monitoring via QR codes.

Participants have developed 17 country-specific short-term motion plans and can meet again quarterly to review progress, share updates and continually improve their strategies for effectively managing healthcare waste.

This workshop represents a major step forward in promoting sustainable health systems and ensuring a cleaner and greener future for communities around the globe.