Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho

Dissertation (MSc (Environmental Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2007.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Brent, Alan Colin
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613681419812864
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Brent, Alan Colin
author_browse Brent, Alan Colin
author_facet Brent, Alan Colin
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Environmental Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2007.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/24551
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:00.824Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/24551 The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho Brent, Alan Colin dzaliesmn@yahoo.com Rogers, David E.C. Ramabitsa-Siimane, Ts’aletseng M Systems approach Systems analysis System Sustainable waste management Rural area Primary health care facilities Healthcare waste Environmentally sound technology Best practicable environmental option Appropriate technology Analytical hierarchy process UCTD Dissertation (MSc (Environmental Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. Waste resulting from healthcare activities is hazardous due to its potential risk of infection to healthcare workers, waste workers and the public. Many tools and approaches have been applied in waste management in developed countries, but are not suitable for application in developing countries due to their complexity and extensive data and resource requirements. WasteOpt was therefore developed and applied as an appropriate decision-making tool in the developing country context. WasteOpt comprises of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), costing and Life cycle management (LCM). The purpose of this study was to identify environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) that minimise the risk of infection by healthcare waste (HCW) in rural clinics. Rural clinics were selected because apart from financial constraints, they are challenged by the lack of procedure, infrastructure and technologies to develop reasonable waste management plans that can be implemented within a practicable time frame. WasteOpt was applied to aid in identifying ESTs in relation to the infection risks and costs of the technologies. Experts in waste management in Lesotho were involved in a workshop for the ranking of technologies. The overall weighting values of the rankings were converted to risk factors for individual options and for alternatives (combination of options). Risk factors were classified as low, medium and high risk. The technologies within a single class were differentiated by analysing the cost of acquiring and running the technology to qualify as ESTs. The ESTs identified for Lesotho are Engineered containers, Refrigerated engineered facility, engineered wheeled transport, detailed procedures, multi chamber incinerator, engineered pit and landfill. Ten (10) clinics in Lesotho were also assessed as case studies using the WHO RAT. The RAT was first modified to include questions on financial management at the clinics. The calculated risk factors were applied to the case studies to assess the risk under which healthcare workers operate in those clinics. The additive minimum risk for the overall life cycle of waste was 4.0 (excluding central treatment and disposal). The clinic workers were found to be at a risk of between 1.1 x 10-4 and 7.8 x 10-5, which proves that rural clinics in Lesotho are still using inappropriate technologies. In terms of financing for waste management, public clinics were found to have little decision-making powers over funds and had less accountability measures. CHAL clinics which are managed by churches in Lesotho had more control of funds and exhibit more accountability. All clinics had no targets for saving funds from waste management activities. WasteOpt can be applied as a decision-making tool for HCW in Lesotho since it overcomes the barriers that inhibit environmentally sound management of HCW in developing countries. In conclusion: WasteOpt can be applied as a decision-making tool for different types of waste by replacing HCW options with respective ones and designing a relevant questionnaire for qualitative data capture. WasteOpt can then be applied in a developing country to aid sustainable waste management decision-making. Informed decision-making helps resource poor managers to select cost-effective but low-risk options, which will be sustainable in the future. Chemical Engineering unrestricted 2013-09-06T17:58:59Z 2006-05-11 2013-09-06T17:58:59Z 2005-11-17 2007-05-11 2006-05-11 Dissertation Ramabitsa-Siimane, T 2005, The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24551 > http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24551 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05112006-114349/ © 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Systems approach
Systems analysis
System
Sustainable waste management
Rural area
Primary health care facilities
Healthcare waste
Environmentally sound technology
Best practicable environmental option
Appropriate technology
Analytical hierarchy process
UCTD
The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title_full The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title_fullStr The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title_full_unstemmed The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title_short The identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in Lesotho
title_sort identification of environmentally sound technologies for healthcare waste management in lesotho
topic Systems approach
Systems analysis
System
Sustainable waste management
Rural area
Primary health care facilities
Healthcare waste
Environmentally sound technology
Best practicable environmental option
Appropriate technology
Analytical hierarchy process
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24551
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05112006-114349/