Focus on Medical Waste Management

Awareness Campaign, Trainings & Conference

Medical waste is highly contagious and as a transmitter of diseases a threatening risk for health. Disposed medical waste contributes significantly to disease transmission and environmental hazards. Originating predominantly from hospitals and medical centres, medical waste also surfaces in domestic settings and agricultural sites, amplifying the risk to humans, ecosystems, and wildlife. Due to the rise in medical waste pollution during the Covid-19 pandemic, effective management measures remain inconsistent both nationally and globally. As a result, the imperative to adequately store, treat, and dispose of medical waste has gained paramount importance.

Notably, the lack of current information and the absence of comparative studies on medical waste management (MWM) systems across different countries call for efforts to establish unified protocols. The situation demands for inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to unify health and environment as hand-in-hand players for combatting current and potential future disease.

Members of the AGYA Working Group Health & Society have taken on the responsibility with a three step approach: inclusive awareness campaigns presenting best practices, enabling efforts for knowledge exchange, finally leading to unified recommendations for a standardisation of MWM.

Unifying inclusive approaches to take joint action

AGYA members from different backgrounds across the natural sciences, health sciences, life sciences, and engineering at different institutions in Germany and Arab countries team up to raise awareness in the public sector and sensitize and teach particularly professionals in the health sector, stakeholders, and decision makers for proper medical waste management through workshops, trainings, awareness days, and conferences in selected hubs in Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE. By scrutinising and comparing MWM practices in various countries and delving into the measures and constraints governing proper waste management, the activities of the working group advocate for mutual learning and standardised practices.

International conference & awareness days in Cairo

The Working Group successfully implements an international conference on MWM at the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Cairo. During the two conference days, the invited speakers and experts discuss with the conference participants state-of-the art practices and the challenges of proper MWM, spanning from storage procedures and safety guidelines to recycling options and environmental impact, across Germany and the Arab world.

AGYA member Dr. Sara Abdel Gaber organises two awareness days on “Safe Handling and Disposal of Medical Waste” and “Medical Waste: Classes, Harms, and Protection Ways” in the directorate of Health and Population, Beheira Governorate and Cairo, respectively. The first is a capacity building event that informs healthcare providers about the updated legislations and the importance of appropriately managing the medical wastes. The latter is an inclusive event, organised in cooperation with the National Association for Deaf (NAD), including a survey study on dealing with MWM.

In an Arab-German panel discussion on “Emerging Plans for a Sustainable Medical Waste Management”, Dr. Ireny Estamalek, German International Cooperation e.V., Dr. Peter R. Corrdon, Khalifa University, UAE, and Dr. Najila Barwani, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia, elaborate the importance of utilizing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data analysis in the process of MWM. As a foundation, they highlight the subsequent need for skilled personnel in this field urging the need for updated educational programmes. Reaching out to the broader audience, the panellists emphasize the potential economic outcomes of sustainable treatment of the medical wastes in contrast to the commonly applied incineration. 

Awareness days in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates 

An awareness day is conducted at the Benghazi University in Libya, organised by AGYA members Prof. Dr. Ali Elgayar and Prof. Dr. Abdelhamid Alhassi. This initiative is highly welcomed and supported by the Libyan Ministry of Health.

AGYA member Prof. Dr. Suhair Sunoqrot organises an “Awareness Day on Medical Waste Management” at Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan. The event comprises a series of talks by high-ranking medical waste experts from different sectors such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan (RSS), the University of Jordan, and the King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC). The talks include topics such as regulatory aspects of medical waste management, biosafety and medical waste management in laboratory settings as well as healthcare facilities, and interventions to minimize pharmaceutical waste. The highly interactive event is attended by students and teaching staff from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Nursing, and Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences at Al-Zaytoonah University, as well as pharmacists and healthcare workers from the local community.

Showcasing the wide importance, also the AGYA alumnus Prof. Dr. Amro Babiker Hassan Eltayeb invites the AGYA Working Group for a Training in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Prof. Dr. Najla Barnawi, College of Nursing, King Saud University for Health Sciences. Here, the AGYA members and invited guests learn best practices how to handle waste MWM in everyday life in hospitals but also households. AGYA member Dr. Mohamed Qenawy from the United Arab Emirates University organises the MWM Workshop in UAE with a special focus on sustainability and disposal strategies. Prof. Dr. Maanar Benkraouda, Dean of the College of Science at UAE University, welcomes all guests and introduces to an awareness day with a special take on the sustainability within MWM.