Assessment of Healthcare Workers Knowledge on HealthCare Waste Management in Selected Health facilities in Abuja and Benue State, Nigeria

The risk associated with healthcare waste (HCW) and its management has gained attention across the world in various events, local and international forums, and summits. However, the need for proper healthcare waste management... [ view full abstract ]

The risk associated with healthcare waste (HCW) and its management has gained attention across the world in various events, local and international forums, and summits. However, the need for proper healthcare waste management has been gaining recognition slowly due to the substantial disease burdens associated with the poor practices. The aim of this paper was to examine health workers knowledge on healthcare waste management in selected health facilities in Abuja and Benue state, Nigeria.

Cross-sectional approach using stratified sampling techniques was used to select sixteen AIDSTAR-ONE project health facilities in Abuja and Benue state across the facility level (primary, secondary and tertiary). Data from the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The results show that a high proportion of health workers know about segregating types of wastes: infectious waste (98.2%), sharps (98.2%) and general waste (96.5%). However, knowledge of waste segregation into recyclables and chemicals was poor (17.5%). The percentage of health workers who knew about color-coding of waste ranged from 71.9% in primary facility to 91.7% in tertiary facility. Knowledge of health care waste treatment and disposal was generally poor, although about 91% knew about open burning in a hole or enclose, only 27% were familiar with the low-temperature incineration. A proportion of SPs who identified burial as a means of waste disposal (77.6%) was higher than for any other method. Results also showed that although all 12 primary health facilities observed were segregating sharps from general waste; only eight (75%) were segregating wastes more broadly into general, infectious, and anatomical and highly infectious groups. 


Findings from the study have shown healthcare workers poor knowledge on health care waste management treatment and disposal. Regular training on HCW management should be given to health workers to improve the current practices and provided with HCW guideline.