Abstract
Introduction
Poor management of medical waste at health facilities has contributed to detrimental impacts on the environmental, human, and animal health in developing countries. Despite the availability of national policy and guidelines on medical waste management in Cambodia, understanding medical waste management at service delivery points remains a gap. Our study aims to assess the human and animal health personnel’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward medical waste management at the selected health centers, animal clinics, and communities in Kampot province, Cambodia.
Methods
The data collection was conducted in Kampot province from 18 to 20 August, 2022 with twelve participants from health centers, four from animal clinics and four from community. The participatory epidemiology approach using various data collection methods, which included focus group discussion, proportional piling, and mapping exercises, was executed. Thematic analysis was applied to identify the key themes. The data from transect walks and key informant interviews were triangulated with other findings.
Results
Almost all participants had favorable attitudes toward enhancing the best medical waste management practices. While animal health personnel had lower knowledge and poor management practice, human health personnel had already initiated medical waste management at their facilities. Nevertheless, there were still more opportunities to improve off-site transportation, on-site storage, treatment plans, and disposal practice.
Conclusion
Medical waste management at health centers and communities in Cambodia merits more serious attention. More training and coaching programs are needed to build the capacities of human and animal healthcare personnel and enhance the standardized practice in complement with more financial and technical support.