Biomedical waste amid COVID-19: perspectives from Bangladesh

Water, sanitation, hygiene and waste disposal practices as COVID-19 response strategy: insights from Bangladesh

“…Due to the lack of proper disposal, these wastes create environmental burden like clogging in water ways, generating microplastic fibres, and contaminate soil and water environment (Fadare and Okoffo 2020 ; Islam et al 2020b ; Sarkodie and Owusu 2020 ). Though experts and responsible authorities suggest proper disposal and segregation of household organic waste with plastic-based protective equipment, mixed up of these wastes increase the risk of disease transmission and exposure to the virus of waste workers (Ma et al 2020 ; Rahman et al 2020 ; Somani et al 2020 ). Based on estimates, there are 40,000 informal waste collectors across the country, most of whom handle waste without following health and safety protocols (Alam and Qiao 2020 ).…”

“…WHO ( 2020d ) stated that good WASH along with proper waste disposal practices can help to prevent the COVID-19 transmission at the community level. It is reported that the amount of household and infectious medical wastes is increased in many countries including Bangladesh during the pandemic (Rume and Islam 2020 ; Rahman et al 2020 ). The increased use of protective equipment and their haphazard disposal creates environmental threats (Fadare and Okoffo 2020 ; Islam et al 2020b ; Rume and Islam 2020 ) and enhances the risk of disease transmission to waste workers as well as community level (Ma et al 2020 ; Singh et al 2020 ).…”

From resilient to transilient health systems: the deep transformation of health systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The infection prevention and control demands of COVID-19 have particularly impacted LMIC health systems with under-resourced and under-regulated medical waste management and processing capacity. Reports from Bangladesh estimate that in April 2020 alone 14 500 tons of waste was produced, putting 40 000 informal waste collectors at risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 due to gaps in health systems waste management ( Rahman et al , 2020 ). Informal waste collectors worldwide are at similar risk, further exacerbated by pre-existing poor health, lack of access to housing, food, sanitation and public services, as well as living in crowded and informal settlements ( Uddin et al , 2020 ).…”

Medical waste: Current challenges and future opportunities for sustainable management

“…However, the recent economic transformation in developing countries has helped millions of people come out of poverty with access to better healthcare service. However, the current and postCOVID-19 pandemic demands for medical resources could be a potential cause for a rapid global increment in medical waste generation (Guterres, 2020;Rahman et al, 2020). .…”