Health-care Waste Management and Risk Factors Among Health Professionals in Public Health Facilities of South Omo Zone, South West Ethiopia, 2018

INTRODUCTION: Health-care waste is a great concern because, in addition to containing conventional toxic pollutants like mercury, chlorinated plastics, and solvents; it also includes a number of toxic materials not found in typical waste. There were no scientific data in Ethiopia that reveal practice toward management of health-care waste. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the management of health professionals toward health-care waste in South Omo zone public health facilities, South West Ethiopia, 2018. METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was used with in the period of February 1–30, 2018. A total of 362 health-care workers were sampled using the lottery method. Coding and entry of data was done using Epi Info™ version: 7.2 and analyzed with SPSS version 20 computer software. Descriptive statistics were computed. Bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify predictor variables for practice of health-care providers. RESULTS: The overall finding of safe practice on health-care waste management among health-care workers was only 29.3%. Receiving training regarding medical waste management, work hours per day among respondents, availability and usage of color coded containers and yellow plastic bags for infectious waste had significant association with safe practice on health-care waste management. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION: The overall finding of safe practice on health-care waste management was only 29.3% among health-care workers. This study showed that most of health-care workers did not meet standard practice. Providing training on medical waste management is essential to encourage safe practices among health-care workers and more attention should be directed at the health-care attendants in order to close the yawning gap in their practice level of medical waste management.