Abstract

Countries worldwide are struggling to develop strategies and infrastructure for appropriate disposal of the increasing medical waste generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the available knowledge and current practices in medical/healthcare waste management worldwide, particularly in countries with transitional economies, including the dependence of medical waste generation rate on various socioeconomic and environmental parameters. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of medical and healthcare waste management practices in 78 countries. We identified impediments and challenges facing the integration of medical waste management into a prospective circular economy according to statistical correlations with human development index (HDI), life expectancy (LE), healthcare expenditure (HE) per capita of gross domestic product (GDP), and environmental performance index (EPI). The results highlight the importance of knowledge and awareness of best practices for infection and injury prevention for waste management among workers. An average of 38.9% of medical waste was segregated for proper management, and only 41% of workers were trained in-service for medical waste disposal. Plastic materials constituted approximately 35% of medical waste, presenting an opportunity for sustainable resource recovery and recycling. It is imperative for all countries to adopt environmentally sustainable management of medical waste to prevent catastrophic stockpiling of infectious waste during and after pandemics. Additionally, we present an outline for future studies on medical waste generation rate and various socioeconomic and environmental parameters that should be investigated in future work to promulgate an inventory of the database for sustainable management of medical/healthcare waste.

摘要

世界各国都在努力制定战略和基础设施，以适当处理由 COVID-19 大流行产生的不断增加的医疗废物。本研究考察了全球医疗/保健废物管理方面的可用知识和当前实践，特别是在经济转型国家，包括医疗废物产生率对各种社会经济和环境参数的依赖性。在这里，我们对 78 个国家的医疗和医疗保健废物管理实践进行了荟萃分析。我们根据与人类发展指数 (HDI)、预期寿命 (LE)、人均国内生产总值 (GDP) 的医疗保健支出 (HE)、和环境绩效指数（EPI）。结果强调了工人对废物管理感染和伤害预防最佳实践的知识和认识的重要性。平均 38.9% 的医疗废物被分类进行妥善管理，只有 41% 的工人接受过医疗废物处理的在职培训。塑料材料约占医疗废物的 35%，为可持续的资源回收和循环利用提供了机会。所有国家都必须对医疗废物采取环境上可持续的管理，以防止在大流行期间和之后发生传染性废物的灾难性储存。此外，