Medical Waste Management Practices and Associated Factors Among Health Workers in Public Health Facilities Within Lira City, Northern Uganda

Abstract

Background: According to research done at Lira Regional Referral Hospital (LRRH), only 56 percent of medical professionals appropriately manage medical waste. If not appropriately disposed of, these wastes can cause major health risks to health workers and communities, including injuries, infections, trauma, wounds, and environmental contamination. The objective was: To examine the medical waste management practices and associated factors among health workers in public health facilities in Lira City, Northern Uganda. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in public health facilities in Lira City in July, 2023. The study population was health workers and the sample size of 200 was determined using the Yamane formula (1967). Simple random sampling and a structured questionnaire were used to collect the data. Data were entered in SPSS version 23 and further analyzed in STATA version 15 at three levels including univariate (descriptive statistics), bivariate (cross tabulations X2), and multivariate level (multivariate logistic regression). Ethical approval was obtained from Lira University Research and Ethics Committee (LUREC) and the ethical considerations were observed during data collection. Results: Just over one-quarter (28.5%) of the health workers in public health facilities had good practices towards medical waste management. The predictors of good medical waste management practices included having knowledge about medical waste disposal (AOR=1.53, p=0.021, 95% CI 0.44-5.4), and occupation (AOR=2.757, p=0.04, CI 0.94-4.12) Conclusion: There are poor medical waste management practices in facilities in Lira City. We recommend that the government of Uganda should provide enough supplies to the facilities, City Health Authorities should conduct continuous medical education for the workers, and there should be supervision of health workers to ensure proper management of medical waste. Keywords: Medical Waste, Health Workers, Public Health Facilities