P170: Evaluation of knowledge and practices of hospital waste management in Nigeria: implications for the control of healthcare associated infections

The medical waste management is a recognized public health problem, since it exposes healthcare workers, patients and the environment to infection, injury and contamination.

In the era of HIV / AIDS, hepatitis and other epidemics, local data are required to implement policies for prevention and control measures.

To assess the knowledge and practices of medical waste management (GDM) in health facilities to facilitate the design activities GDM capacity building to improve the safety of care.

Internationally validated instruments were used to obtain data from 32 health facilities in four states on the development of key messages, advocacy / awareness sessions. 56 health workers and educational institutions, local authorities were concerned.

After 6 months, capacity building workshops have been made to improve the immediate impact of the project messages on the dangerous practices of GDM prevalent in 97% of schools. A self-administered post-intervention questionnaire was used to compare the pre-test scores.

In 28 workshops, staff and students 2100 16 educational institutions and health care organizations and 59 civil society have been affected by training on GDM. The post-intervention evaluation showed an improvement of 63% on the issues of knowledge and practice.

Conclusions: This study provides a framework for evidence-based integration of GDM in developing countries to prevent nosocomial infections, promote patient safety and to ensure the sustainability of the healthcare environment.

None declared

Affiliations

1. Centre for Health Research & Development, Action Family Foundation, Nigeria

   • E Okechukwu

2. Institute of Child Health & Primary Care, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria

   • A Onyenwenyi

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E Okechukwu.

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