Project Overview

The specific objectives of the project are to develop pharmaceutical waste management guidelines, which collate all relevant Malawi policies and procedures — both written in law and described in the new MOH health care waste management strategy; provide supplemental guidance on mitigating environmental and social impacts in line with international best practices; and present industry-standard management and logistics strategies to effectively oversee pharmaceutical waste management activities in Malawi’s public health sector.

m4eco and m4h conducted an assessment to determine the volume of pharmaceutical waste at representative sample of 15 primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities within the country. General information on waste like human resources, training, capacity, technology, procurement, monitoring and financing were analysed to produce a nation-wide assessment. This enabled us to ascertain the status of pharmaceutical waste disposal infrastructure, providing details about location, capacity, and performance. The findings informed the development of a costed one-year plan for the disposal of pharmaceutical waste from selected facilities and extrapolate that information to develop a costed plan covering the entire country.

We conducted a review workshop to share the findings with stakeholders and incorporate their feedback on the developed pharmaceutical waste management guidelines.