Health Care Waste Management And Covid 19 Pandemic

This book deals with the general principles, policy instruments, sustainability of supply chain, and business of health-care waste (HCW) management including inputs on exercise in immune health defense against COVID 19. Health-care waste management is very important in any country for protection of environmental and animal and human health. The COVID-19 pandemic, in addition, has augmented this importance to a greater extent. Italy has been successful in curbing the problems related to HCW management during the COVID-19 pandemic at very fast rates from the worst situation, while for a few countries in Asia and Africa, challenges still exist. It is necessary that policy makers, researchers, and implementers gain more knowledge and information on these aspects and improve the strategies and actions. Addressing these issues will reduce the cost of health care as well as resource inefficiency hindering sustainable development goals. This book is of interest and useful to practitioners, capacity builders and policy makers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, and general people, and is a valuable source of reference to the relevant researchers and students in global markets. The book serves as a reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of environmental science, waste management, and medical science. National and international scientists as well as policy makers will also find this to be a useful read.

Globally, safe waste management services for healthcare waste are lacking, especially in least developed countries. The latest available data (from 2019) indicate that 1 in 3 healthcare facilities globally do not safely manage healthcare waste. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large increases in healthcare waste, straining under resourced healthcare facilities and exacerbating environmental impacts from solid waste. This report quantifies the additional COVID-19 healthcare waste generated, describes current healthcare waste management systems and their deficiencies, and summarizes emerging best practices and solutions to reduce the impact of waste on human and environmental health. The recommendations included in the report build on actions in the WHO manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19: prescriptions and actionables for a healthy and green recovery. They target the global, national and facility levels to promote a “win-win” scenario for COVID-19 PPE use, testing and vaccinations that are safe and support environmental sustainability.

This book highlights the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable waste management and air emission, using various case studies. The year 2020 was a historical year mainly due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and it influenced or affected the global economy, business models and the industrial sectors, thus impacting sustainability in various ways. Given that sustainability has many faces and facets, it is worthwhile to deal with the relation (or impact) of COVID-19 on various elements of sustainability. This book presents how COVID-19 has influenced waste management and air quality.

COVID-19 in the Environment: Impact, Concerns, and Management of Coronavirus highlights the research and technology addressing COVID-19 in the environment, including the associated fate, transport, and disposal. It examines the impacts of the virus at local, national, and global levels, including both positive and negative environmental impacts and techniques for assessing and managing them. Utilizing case studies, it also presents examples of various issues around handling these impacts, as well as policies and strategies being developed as a result. Organized into six parts, COVID-19 in the Environment begins by presenting the nature of the virus and its transmission in various environmental media, as well as models for reducing the transmission. Section 2 describes methods for monitoring and detecting the virus, whereas Sections 3, 4, and 5 go on to examine the socio-economic impact, the environmental impact and risk, and the waste management impact, respectively. Finally, Section 6 explores the environmental policies and strategies that have comes as a result of COVID-19, the implications for climate change, and what the long-term effects will be on environmental sustainability. Examines the fate, transport, and management of COVID-19 and COVID-19 related waste in the environment Explores a variety of issues related to the environmental handling and impacts of COVID-19, particularly utilizing case studies Offers tools and techniques for assessing real-time environmental issues related to COVID-19

This is the second edition of the WHO handbook on the safe, sustainable and affordable management of health-care waste--commonly known as "the Blue Book". The original Blue Book was a comprehensive publication used widely in health-care centers and government agencies to assist in the adoption of national guidance. It also provided support to committed medical directors and managers to make improvements and presented practical information on waste-management techniques for medical staff and waste workers. It has been more than ten years since the first edition of the Blue Book. During the intervening period, the requirements on generators of health-care wastes have evolved and new methods have become available. Consequently, WHO recognized that it was an appropriate time to update the original text. The purpose of the second edition is to expand and update the practical information in the original Blue Book. The new Blue Book is designed to continue to be a source of impartial health-care information and guidance on safe waste-management practices. The editors' intention has been to keep the best of the original publication and supplement it with the latest relevant information. The audience for the Blue Book has expanded. Initially, the publication was intended for those directly involved in the creation and handling of health-care wastes: medical staff, health-care facility directors, ancillary health workers, infection-control officers and waste workers. This is no longer the situation. A wider range of people and organizations now have an active interest in the safe management of health-care wastes: regulators, policy-makers, development organizations, voluntary groups, environmental bodies, environmental health practitioners, advisers, researchers and students. They should also find the new Blue Book of benefit to their activities. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the various types of waste produced from health-care facilities, their typical characteristics and the hazards these wastes pose to patients, staff and the general environment. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the guiding regulatory principles for developing local or national approaches to tackling health-care waste management and transposing these into practical plans for regions and individual health-care facilities. Specific methods and technologies are described for waste minimization, segregation and treatment of health-care wastes in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. These chapters introduce the basic features of each technology and the operational and environmental characteristics required to be achieved, followed by information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of each system. To reflect concerns about the difficulties of handling health-care wastewaters, Chapter 9 is an expanded chapter with new guidance on the various sources of wastewater and wastewater treatment options for places not connected to central sewerage systems. Further chapters address issues on economics (Chapter 10), occupational safety (Chapter 11), hygiene and infection control (Chapter 12), and staff training and public awareness (Chapter 13). A wider range of information has been incorporated into this edition of the Blue Book, with the addition of two new chapters on health-care waste management in emergencies (Chapter 14) and an overview of the emerging issues of pandemics, drug-resistant pathogens, climate change and technology advances in medical techniques that will have to be accommodated by health-care waste systems in the future (Chapter 15).

Environmental and Health Management of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) examines mitigation measures that can be adopted at the time of a novel coronavirus outbreak to lessen environmental contamination and impacts on human health. The book discusses origin, structure and pathogenesis, epidemiology, environmental transmission and the potential spread routes of COVID-19 via surfaces, air, water, wastewater, medical waste and food products. It also covers guidelines and protocols for setting safety conditions to provide adequate health care and reduce the risk of infection in health and non-healthcare settings, along with preventative measures and disinfection technologies. In addition, the book discusses challenges, opportunities and future perspectives, the global crisis, and global consequences on the environment and health. With contributions from experts, this book presents a multidisciplinary reference resource for virologists, microbiologists, public health professionals, environmental health managers and others engaged in the study and mitigation of the environmental and health impacts of the virus. Covers the environmental transmission and spread of COVID-19 Includes environmental disinfection technologies for prevention of COVID-19 Provides guidelines, standards and protocols related to COVID-19