Not long ago in Nepal, like in many other lower-middle income countries, healthcare waste – from personal protective equipment, such as gloves and gowns, to used swabs and bandages, expired drugs, needles, laboratory reagents and chemicals – was simply dumped behind health facilities, mixed with general waste and sent to landfills, or openly burned. Health officials and municipal authorities across Nepal are now working hard to address these issues as part of a new focus on environmental health.
Ruth Evans speaks to some of those on the forefront of this effort and reports on the progress being made.