Assessment of the Effectiveness of Hospital Waste Management Practices by Public Health Facilities in Garissa County - Kenya

Hospital waste management requires an organized systematic channeling of waste through practically appropriate recovery disposal routes, consistent with acceptable public health and environmental safeguards. The Ministry of Health estimates 47 % of hospital waste generated cannot be accounted for. This indicates that it is being illegally dumped, buried or burnt somewhere undesignated for the purpose thus risking the health of people and the general environment. The study was aimed to identifying and assessing the effectiveness of waste management practices in public health facilities in Garissa County. The study adopted a cross sectional design. The target population of this study is 2240 management staffs in 32 public health facilities in Garissa County and 500 households around the damp sites. The study used Fisher, Laing and Stockdel (1983) formula to arrive at a total of 340 staff inclusive of 10 % respondents to cater for none-response and 271 members of the community. The study employed stratified random sampling where the staff was grouped into job cadres to select the 340 respondents to be included in the study. Garissa County Health workers have different job cadres which were considered as different strata. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze categorical data. Inferential statistics by use of Chi-square test were used to determine the statistical significance of relationships between variables. GraphPad Prism Scientific statistical software version 7.04 was used for statistical the analysis. The data was presented in tables, bar graphs and charts. The results showed that on average proper medical waste segregation occurs in hospitals. Waste storage area were in debilitating conditions and need to be improved. Waste management facilities were available. However, the only available incineration facility was not in good condition. Waste handling equipment available are in a poor condition and require urgent attention. Profession, level of education, number of years worked and training influence proper medical waste handling and management. It was also established that among the persons living around waste dumpsites, young children were at a higher health risk of medical waste related hazards. It was determined that the community around dumpsites were at a higher propensity of medical sharps injuries risk exposure with the greatest chasm at p