UN Human Rights Report Calls for An End to Medical Waste Incineration
Buenos Aires, Brussels, Manila, Washington DC — Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) today praised an official report by a Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council that calls for an end to the incineration of medical waste in order to protect human health and the environment.
The report focuses on “the adverse effects that the unsound
management and disposal of medical waste may have on the enjoyment of
human rights.” It details a broad range of human rights impacts derived
from poor health care waste management in a diversity of countries.
“This is a ground breaking document,” said Ruth Stringer, International
Science and Policy Coordinator for HCWH and author of the HCWH
submission to the process. “Not only does the Special Rapporteur
document heinous conditions in around the world, but his recommendations
call for a progressive series of actions to protect people’s right to
health and a clean environment.”
In his prepared statement to the Human Rights Council today, the Special
Rapporteur, Calin Georgescu called for “The replacement of
incineration as a disposal method of hazardous medical waste with more
environmentally-friendly and safe methods of disposal, such as
autoclaving.”
“The findings of the Special Rapporteur draw from clear scientific
evidence and validate the direct experience of thousands of communities
around the world who have suffered from the negative health impacts of
medical waste incineration” said Merci Ferrer, Executive Director of
HCWH South East Asia. “Governments of the world should take note of
this important document.”
Affirming that “medical staff, patients, workers in support services
linked to health-care facilities, workers in waste disposal facilities,
recyclers, scavengers and the general public” are all impacted by
medical waste, the Special Rapporteur also recommends dedicating
greater financial resources to sustainable health care waste management.
He further calls for the development of “a comprehensive international
legal framework” to protect human health and the environment from the
scourge of healthcare waste.
To complement the report from the Special Rapporteur, HCWH today
publicly released its own report, which HCWH staff, with the assistance
of network members and waste management experts across Africa, South
Asia and Latin America, assembled. It represents a large body of
information which was submitted to the Special Rapporteur for his
consideration. HCWH’s submission was joined by submissions from the
secretariat of the Basel Convention, the secretariat of the Stockholm
Convention, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centre for
International Environmental Law.
- Read the Report of the Special Rapporteur
- Read the HCWH Submission on Medical Waste and Human Rights
- Appendix 1: Country Case Studies
- Read Press Release from the Human Rights Commission
Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of more than 470 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. Visit the HCWH website for more information.
