Assessment of Infectious Solid Hospital Waste Incineration in Health Facilities of Douala, Cameroon

Abstract

Incineration of infectious solid hospital wastes (ISHWs) is a high-temperature oxidation process that reduces organic and combustible wastes to inorganic and incombustible materials through two options: decentralised incineration, where wastes from one health facility (HF) are destroyed on its site, and centralised incineration, where wastes from several HFs are pooled for destruction.Particularly in Douala HFs, decentralised incineration is the common option practised using artisanal incinerators which are potential sources of health and environmental risks.This paper assesses the ISHW incineration in the specific case of public and private HFs of Douala, in order to identify shortcomings and propose a sustainable management strategy.The methodology used was divided into three parts: (i) documentary research, (ii) data collection and (iii) data processing.623 HFs were identified with annual production of ISHWs of 31.317tonnes per year.Of the 88 ISHW incinerators inventoried, 83 are artisanal and 5 modern.Uncontrolled decentralised incineration of ISHWs is practised by 13.3% of HFs against 0.8% of HFs practising controlled decentralised incineration of ISHWs.In the perspective of safe ISHW incineration, the pooling through the creation of incineration pools between HFs close to those with modern incinerators, appears as a sustainable management strategy in Douala.