Planning for disposal of COVID-19 pandemic wastes in developing countries: a review of current challenges.
Environ Monit Assess
; 193(9): 592, 2021 Aug 23.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1368506
ABSTRACT
The health sector is critical to the well-being of any country, but developing countries have several obstacles that prevent them from providing adequate health care. This became an even larger concern after the COVID-19 outbreak left millions of people dead worldwide and generated huge amounts of infected or potentially infected wastes. The management and disposal of medical wastes during and post-COVID-19 represent a major challenge in all countries, but this challenge is particularly great for developing countries that do not have robust waste disposal infrastructure. The main problems in developing countries include inefficient treatment procedures, limited capacity of healthcare facilities, and improper waste disposal procedures. The management of medical wastes in most developing countries was primitive prior to the pandemic. The improper treatment and disposal of these wastes in our current situation may further speed COVID-19 spread, creating a serious risk for workers in the medical and sanitation fields, patients, and all of society. Therefore, there is a critical need to discuss emerging challenges in handling, treating, and disposing of medical wastes in developing countries during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a need to determine best disposal techniques given the conditions and limitations under which developing countries operate. Several open questions need to be investigated concerning this global issue, such as to what extent developing countries can control the expected environmental impacts of COVID-19, particularly those related to medical wastes? What are the projected management scenarios for medical wastes under the COVID-19 outbreak? And what are the major environmental risks posed by contaminated wastes related to COVID-19 treatment? Studies directed at the questions above, careful planning, the use of large capacity mobile recycling facilities, and following established guidelines for disposal of medical wastes should reduce risk of COVID-19 spread in developing countries.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Medical Waste Disposal
/
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Environ Monit Assess
Journal subject:
Environmental Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S10661-021-09350-1
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS