Occupational Health Risks Associated with Medical Waste Management: Evidence from Healthcare Workers in Delta State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT Medical wastes are generated from services rendered by healthcare institutions, and their management pose a serious public health threat due to their potential to transmit infectious diseases, cause injuries and expose personnel to hazardous chemicals. This study was designed to investigate the health risks associated with medical waste management on healthcare workers with a focus on healthcare institutions in Delta State. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive survey on 45 healthcare facilities from the 7th of February to the 29th of June 2023. The facilities were classified into five as primary, secondary, tertiary, private, and missionary healthcares. Data were collected from 846 hospital workers using the modified adopted UNEP/WHO instrument for assessing health risks related to medical waste management. Data collected were encoded, inputted, and analyzed with IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0. Bivariate analysis and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the hypothesis. The results revealed that most of the healthcare workers (64.6%) were cognizant of the health risks associated with handling medical waste, and the identified risks showed that the following: physical injury (73%), needle stick injury (72.6%), tetanus infection (71.8%), HIV (71.3%), Hepatitis B (68.7%) and Hepatitis C virus infections (67.4%) were considered as the highest risks because of their capacity to transmit diseases to healthcare workers. The analysis of variance revealed that the health risks associated with handling medical wastes on healthcare workers were not significantly the same across the different categories of healthcare institutions in the state (p-value = 6.69856E-80). This was further authenticated using bivariate analysis, which showed that most of the health risks had significant p-values, indicating that the health risks varied significantly across different categories of healthcare institutions. We concluded that healthcare workers across all institutions in the state, irrespective of the category, were exposed to significant health risks, and the significant differences in risks across the institutions require institution-specific strategies to protect the workers. The study recommends continuous efforts to improve the handling of medical waste through investment in infrastructure, availability of infection prevention supplies, and continuous training for healthcare workers.