Medical waste: the dark side of healthcare

Abstract Hospitals and other health facilities generate an ever-increasing amount of waste, approximately 15% of which may be infectious, toxic, or radioactive. The World Health Organization has been addressing the issue since the 1980s. After initially focusing on high-income countries, it then focused on low-income countries, with unsafe disposal methods in landfills and inadequate incinerators as major concerns. Gradually, the understanding of the issue has undergone several shifts, including from a focus on the component of medical waste considered “hazardous” to all forms of waste, and from accepting medical waste as a necessary downside of high-quality healthcare to seeing the avoidance of healthcare waste as a component of high quality healthcare.

摘要 医院及其他医疗卫生机构产生的废弃物总量持续攀升，其中约15%可能具备感染性、毒性或放射性。世界卫生组织（World Health Organization）自20世纪80年代起便着手应对这一医疗废弃物议题。该组织最初将关注重点置于高收入国家，随后转向低收入国家，彼时垃圾填埋场的不安全处置方式与焚烧设施配置不足为主要关切点。随着时间推移，学界及业界对该问题的认知历经多次转变：从仅聚焦于被认定为“危险”的医疗废弃物组分，扩展至覆盖所有类型的医疗废弃物；从将医疗废弃物视为高质量医疗服务的必然代价，转变为将规避医疗废弃物产生视作高质量医疗服务的组成部分。