Medical Waste Awareness at an All-time High in Nepal

A front-page news article in the Himalayan - one of Nepal's leading English language newspapers - reports the government warning that hospitals that do not treat their waste will lose their licences and be forced to shut down. A team lead by a representative from the Prime Minister's office visited three Kathmandu Hospitals in December and found that only one was treating their waste properly. That one hospital was Bir, where HECAF has created a sustainable waste management system with support from HCWH and the World Health Organisation. A short HECAF video about the progress at Bir, by filmmaker Russ Pariseau, can be seen here.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Technology also came to the Energy Week Workshop organised by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre and visited HECAF's stall, where they were raising awareness about HCWH's Global Green and Healthy Hospital's, and the potential of biodigestion to treat waste and generate renewable energy in hospitals. Biodigestion is just one of the innovative technologies that are being piloted at Bir, and plans for other hospitals are under development.

Outside of the capital, the Chitwan District Public Health Office, a government institution responsible for Public Health, is also backing HECAF and HCWH's work. The District Public Health Officer is supporting our project to develop waste systems suitable for the small healthposts that so many of the rural population depend on. Suitable pilot facilities have already been identified and the next step will be to raise awareness with facility bosses across the region and field testing some of the priority technologies.

Health Care Without Harm has been working with strategic partners Healthcare Foundation Nepal (HECAF) since 2008 and the issue has never been hotter.

Ruth Stringer, HCWH International Science & Policy Coordinator

HCWH-SEA is now Asia

The year 2012 was a great year for us and the people whose lives we hope have touched. We have expanded our campaigns. The mercury campaign was expanded, and is now the Safer Chemicals program which now includes other hazardous chemicals in the health care setting. The Medical Waste campaign has ventured into a deeper look at the Philippine Health Care Waste Management Manual and continuously worked with the Anti-Incineration Road (AIR) Show (a collaboration between Philippine-based NGOs Ecowaste Coaliton (Ecowaste), and Mother Earth Foundation (MEF), and the international group Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives/Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) in the Philippines. Our office staff has expanded in numbers too.

2013 promises to be an even more exciting and at the same time a challenging year for us. We do not only celebrate a decade of meaningful years of work, we are also expanding the advocacy for environmental health in the whole Asian region.

We are now HCWH-Asia.

Asia region is the most diverse culturally, the one with the fastest growing economies and where several mega cities are situated. The cause for health and the environment should be the norm in this growing and dynamic region, as it should be too globally.

This year and in the coming years ahead, we hope to highlight more the encompassing issue of climate change and how it relates to other equally crucial issues such as toxic chemicals, improper health care waste management, burning of wastes, unsustainable infrastructure and how it impacts on our health and the environment.

This year, we go full blast in engaging hospitals to be part of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals. GGHH is a global network and a movement of hospitals and health care systems that practices 10 interrelated goals: leadership, chemicals, waste, energy, water, transportation, food, pharmaceuticals, building and purchasing.

We call on private and public health care systems, hospitals and clinics to be part of this dynamic movement. We strongly believe and trust our partners in the government, international government and non-government groups, academe, scientists, donors, supporters, and other stakeholders that they will continue to be with us in this important work that we are doing.

We invite you to be part of our 10-10-13. Ten goals, ten years in 2013.

To our partners, supporters and friends, you all are a big part of HCWH Asia’s growth, substance and success.

Let’s continue the advocacy and the collaboration.

You ALL ROCK!

Merci Ferrer, HCWH-Asia Director

Health Care Without Harm Calls for a Mercury-Free Health System Measure

August 8, 2008

Health Care Without Harm Calls for a Mercury-Free Health System Measure

In line with the celebration of Hospital Week in the Philippines, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)-Southeast Asia, urged the Department of Health (DOH) and all hospitals all over the country “to be true to their Hippocratic Oath, To first do no harm, by gradually phasing out mercury use in the country’s health care system.”

According to Faye Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Program Coordinator for Mercury, “the risk of mercury to people, wildlife and the environment should push the government to fast-track and put in place a law that will eventually make the country’s health care system mercury-free.”

She added that hospitals in US, Europe and members of the European Union have banned mercury thermometers and other equipments that use mercury. In the Philippines, the Philippine Heart Center is the first to switch to non-mercury alternatives.

“Countries around the world have proven that switching to mercury alternatives is affordable and the alternatives give the same result minus the hazards,” said Ferrer. “It is time Philippines follow suit and serve as a model in the Southeast Asian region.”

An Administrative Order (AO) crafted as early as 2007 by the HCWH-SEA in collaboration with the DOH, mandates the phase-out of mercury-containing thermometers and blood pressure devices along with other products that use mercury. The AO is yet to be signed this year.

At the Senate, four separate bills on mercury have been filed. These include Mercury Use in Schools Prohibition Act of 2008 (SB 2278), Mercury Thermometer Regulation Act of 2008 (SB 2259), Mercury Reduction Act (SB 893) and the Mercury Health Advisory Act (SB 678).

A report by Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Power and Poisons: There’s Something About Mercury, said that the Philippines has no available statistics on the country’s mercury releases.

However, Ferrer said that in the US alone, mercury fever thermometers contributed 15 metric tons of mercury to solid waste landfills annually. “… and the worst thing about mercury is once it is released in the atmosphere, it is transported to the rest of the globe,” she added.

World Health Organization (WHO) reported as early as 1991 that a safe level of mercury exposure, below which there is no adverse effects, has never been established. In a policy paper they issued, it presented 3-pronged short, medium and long-term measures that include (a) development and implementation of plans to reduce the use of mercury equipment and replace it with alternatives, (b) increase efforts to reduce the risk of unnecessary mercury equipment in hospitals and (c) a ban of mercury-containing devices and promotion of alternatives.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), on the other hand, formulated a Mercury Program designed to raise awareness of the global environmental hazards of mercury after its Governing Council concluded that there is sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts from mercury to warrant further international action.

In October this year, the 2^nd UNEP Open Ended Working Group on Mercury will meet to discuss options and consensus recommendations with regards to the global challenges posed by mercury.

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is a global coalition of 473 organizations in more than 50 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in health care sector. For more information, visit www.noharm.org.