The Shot Isn’t the End of the Story
The health safety protocols that come after you get your COVID-19 vaccine
Imagine administering a vaccine to protect a patient from one disease and accidentally catching another. That was the risk many Senegalese health workers faced due to the limited options for disposing of used needles, empty syringes, and other medical waste created by the vaccines they were administering.
Ironically, this was a problem exacerbated by Senegal’s impressive response to the pandemic.
When COVID-19 arrived in the country, local leaders acted quickly to develop and implement a response plan to tackle the pandemic, including setting up specialized COVID-19 treatment facilities, spreading awareness about the importance of following safety precautions, and launching widespread vaccination efforts.
By January 2023, Senegal had administered more than two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
Although COVID-19 vaccines are effective and safe, the waste generated from them presents a significant safety challenge. According to Coumba Mbow, supervisor of primary health care at the Dakar Nord district level and a key player in Senegal’s national vaccination program, the country faces three key challenges when it comes to managing medical waste such as syringes, vaccine bottles, and used dressings: storing it, transporting it, and disposing of it properly.
Health centers frequently lack medical waste storage facilities. And when they do exist, they often don’t have enough incinerators or suitable solutions for managing potentially infectious products that need to be kept in isolated, less-trafficked areas. Improperly stored medical waste can have serious health consequences for patients and staff who could be exposed to infectious materials.
In addition, improper treatment of medical waste may also pose health risks indirectly through the release of pathogens and toxic pollutants into the environment. For example, where incinerators are not available, waste can end up in landfills, leading to the contamination of drinking, surface, and ground waters. And it’s a big issue — there are 88 vaccination centers in and around Dakar alone.
“The situation not only poses health risks to staff and patients, but it also creates traceability issues since the identification of safety boxes is not standardized,” said Marieme Samba Ndoye, who leads Senegal’s national vaccination program and is an epidemiologist at Gaspard Camara Health Center in the Central Dakar Health District.
To tackle these issues, USAID — through its Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) program — supports the Ministry of Health and Social Action to improve waste management practices in the vaccination centers across six regions in Senegal, including the capital city of Dakar.
The USAID program achieves this goal in three ways.
- Training health workers on safe storage practices for waste through sorting and packaging techniques on production sites.
- In partnership with the National Hygiene Service, training waste transporters on precautions to take when transporting infectious waste safely to the incineration plant located outside of Dakar.
- Ensuring community health workers and other people who handle waste — responsible for tasks such as collecting, storing, and loading waste into trucks — are equipped with personal protective equipment and work under the direction and supervision of National Health Service agents.
“It’s evident that managing biomedical waste is a significant concern for both public health and the environment,” says Coumba. “The support from USAID has been vital in providing the vaccination centers in Senegal with the resources they need to handle waste in a safe and responsible manner.”
Dr. Ndeye Maguette Ndiaye, chief medical officer of the Dakar Medical Region, added that staff is determined to maintain the safe and efficient management of biomedical waste in health centers. “After completing this phase of collection and disposal, we’re considering holding a workshop to reflect on sustainable solutions for managing vaccine waste,” she said.
As of March 2022, USAID has supported the proper disposal of 32,594 safety boxes filled with vaccine waste in the regions of Dakar, Thiès, Fatick, Kaolack, Kaffrine and Diourbel.
Proper management of biomedical waste plays an important role in protecting human and environmental health. It also highlights the significance of international collaboration in battling the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to consider proper management of biomedical waste during health crises.
About the Project
The USAID Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program (2018–2023) enables low- and middle-income countries to strengthen their pharmaceutical systems, which is pivotal to better health outcomes and higher-performing health systems. The program is implemented by a consortium of global and local partners, led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a global health nonprofit.
www.mtapsprogram.org
