Healthcare Hazardous Waste Management Project system in Dakahaleya Governorate – Implementation Consultancy

Hazardous management (HWM) has been and continues to be a priority for the government of Egypt with many governmental efforts and various projects being financed in the sectors including organizations such as the UNDP, GIZ, EBRD and SECO. Each of these projects has had a specific mandate and objective that fits into the bigger picture of HWM on a national level; where some projects have focused on the hazardous waste sector as a whole, other focused on industrial HWM or portions of electronic HWM and still other addressed and continue to address hazardous healthcare waste management (HHCWM) the focus of this project.

In 2009 the first HHWM guidelines were developed (which was later updated and significantly modified by 2020 to address the current situation of HHWM in Egypt based on a baseline study conducted on five model healthcare facilities in 2018 – part of the healthcare and electronic waste management project under the UNDP – and to reflect more up to date practices in the sector). In 2010, the national strategy for hazardous healthcare waste management was issued and adopted by the MoE and the MoHP. A feasibility study on “improving hospital hazardous waste management in Egypt” was also conducted in 2010 and it identified Dakahleya Governorate as the most appropriate for implementing a model project.

The overall objective of this project is to provide the health facility staff and the population of Dakahleya Governorate with an efficient and sustainably functioning healthcare waste management (HCWM) system. This project is intended to serve as a model that lends itself to being replicated throughout other Governorates in Egypt in order to upgrade similar systems (whether fully or partially depending on the local conditions).