Medical waste: the dark side of healthcare
Abstract Hospitals and other health facilities generate an ever-increasing amount of waste, approximately 15% of which may be infectious, toxic, or radioactive. The World Health Organization has been addressing the issue since the 1980s. After initially focusing on high-income countries, it then foc...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz
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| Series: | História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/pdf/hcsm/v27s1/0104-5970-hcsm-27-s1-0231.pdf |
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| Summary: | Abstract Hospitals and other health facilities generate an ever-increasing amount of waste, approximately 15% of which may be infectious, toxic, or radioactive. The World Health Organization has been addressing the issue since the 1980s. After initially focusing on high-income countries, it then focused on low-income countries, with unsafe disposal methods in landfills and inadequate incinerators as major concerns. Gradually, the understanding of the issue has undergone several shifts, including from a focus on the component of medical waste considered “hazardous” to all forms of waste, and from accepting medical waste as a necessary downside of high-quality healthcare to seeing the avoidance of healthcare waste as a component of high quality healthcare. |
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| ISSN: | 1678-4758 |