Management of Medical Wastes: Public Awareness and Associated Health Risks

A study was carried out in 49 institutions involved in the provision of health care services in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania. The aim was to assess the common practices with respect to the management of medical waste. Awareness of workers in the institutions on the public and environmental health risks associated with improper management of medical waste was also assessed. The results showed that the most common types of wastes include sharps, waste blood and fluids, and anatomical and pathological wastes. About 91.8% of the facilities separated medical wastes depending on their types although 77.6% of the facilities did not treat the wastes before disposal. The commonest method for disposal of solid wastes was land filling (57.1%) while for liquid wastes; most facilities drained them into the municipal sewage system (85.7%). Large proportions of interviewed workers were aware of the environmental (59.2%) and public (69.4%) health risks caused by improper management of medical wastes although some of them violated the regulations related to waste management. It can be concluded from this study that although the generation of medical wastes is increasing, there is still lack of health education on proper methods for waste management among workers in health care institutions. This calls for the need of awareness programmes and enforcement of legislation on proper medical waste management in order to prevent hazards and risks to the public and environment.Keywords: medical wastes, environment, public healt

Animal Waste Management Practices and Perceptions on Public and Environmental Health Risks

A study was conducted to assess the practices with respect to management of animal wastes and awareness of livestock keepers on the environmental and public health risks associated with improper management of animal wastes in 66 livestock-keeping households in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection, complemented with review of secondary data and researchers’  observations. Majority of respondents (91.0%) heaped the wastes near the animal shed and none of them treated the waste before disposal. Main methods for waste disposal were spreading as manure on crop farms (62.1%) and burning (10.6%), and about 24% respondents disposed the wastes on any available open space. It was also observed that 40.9% of the respondents were aware of environmental risks caused by improper disposal of animal wastes while 59.1% were not aware of such risks, and the risk mentioned was air pollution. About 57.6% of the respondents were aware of the public health risks and they mentioned skin infections, helminthosis, diarrhea, allergy and respiratory infections. Majority of the respondents (87.9%) were not aware of the existence of legislation governing animal waste management. It can be concluded from the study that the limited knowledge on proper management of animal wastes in the study area as well as lack of enforcement of legislation predisposes the environment and public to health risks. It is recommended that responsible authorities should initiate programmes to educate livestock keepers and the general public on appropriate waste management technologies in order to minimize public and environmental health risks.Key words: animal wastes, environment, public healt

Calf health and management in smallholder dairy farms in Tanzania

Smallholder farmers’ knowledge and practice of dairy calf management on 129 farms with calves less than 10 months of age in Southeastern and Southern Highland areas of Tanzania was assessed. The method of study included both a farm visit and completion of a questionnaire. Most of the farmers were female, with a primary level of education, and majority kept 1–3 milking cows that yielded 6–10 l milk/cow/day. Most of the calves were fed milk using a residual calf suckling system. Weaning age was 3–8 months. Overall, the body condition of the calves was poor, ranged from 1 to 2.5 with a mode of 2. The majority of the farmers believed that helminthosis was the most common disease condition affecting the calves; diarrhea was ranked as the second. Calf death was reported by 20% of the farmers to have occurred in their herd lasting the 2 years prior to the study. Calf body condition score was related to body weight for calves younger than 9 weeks, and older than 23 weeks of age, whereas no such relationship existed in the age group 9 to 23 weeks. The sex distribution was skewed with less male calves being older than 23 weeks. We hypothesize that male calves experience inferior management compared with female calves. This study demonstrates a low level of knowledge on, and poor practices of calf management among the surveyed farmers that suggest the need for educational intervention

Assessment of drug usage and antimicrobial residues in milk on smallholder farms in Morogoro, TanzaniaEvaluation de l'utilisation des medicaments et determination des residus antimicrobiens dans le lait dans les petites exploitations agricoles a Morogoro en Tanzanie

Questionnaire survey and on-farm inspection were used to establish types of drugs used to treat livestock diseases, to collect information on occurrence of clinical mastitis and milk discarding practices on 59 randomly selected smallholder dairy farms in Morogoro municipality, Tanzania. Milk samples were also collected for evaluation of antimicrobial drug residues using three tests; the Delvotest® SP, agar well diffusion and agar plate disc assays. On the day of farm visit, 25.4% of study farms had various drugs used to treat animals, categorised as antimicrobials (54.2%), anthelmintics (25.0%), anti-protozoans (8.3%), pesticides (8.3%) and anti-anaemics (4.2%). In addition, 25 farmers reported to have observed clinical mastitis in cows and 84% of them used intramammary infusions to treat infected quarters. During the validation, all the tests detected dihydrostreptomycin, oxytetracycline and gentamicin below the Codex Alimentarius recommended Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) but disparities were observed with reference to detection of penicillin residues. The DelvotestSP was found to be more reliable than the other two tests. Only 1 (1.7%) of 59 milk samples screened had antimicrobial residues as detected by the Delvotest SP suggesting that antimicrobial residues in milk in the smallholder farms in Morogoro municipality may not be a serious problem. Keywords: drugs, residues, smallholder farms, Morogoro, TanzaniaRsumOn a eu recours une enqute par questionnaire et une inspection au niveau des fermes, en vue de dterminer les types de mdicaments utiliss pour traiter les maladies animales, recueillir des informations sur l'incidence de la mammite clinique et sur les pratiques qui consistent jeter le lait, dans 59 petites fermes laitires choisies au hasard dans la municipalit de Morogoro en Tanzanie. Des chantillons de lait taient galement collects, afin d'valuer les rsidus de mdicaments antimicrobiens l'aide de trois tests: le Delvotest SP, le Test de diffusion en glose et le Test sur plaque l'agar. Le jour de la visite de la ferme, 25,4% des fermes faisant l'objet d'tudes avaient recours divers mdicaments pour traiter les animaux. Les mdicaments taient classs comme suit: antimicrobiens (54,2%), anthelminthiques (25%), antiprotozoaires (8,3%), pesticides (8,3%) et anti-anmiques (4,2%). Par ailleurs, 25 paysans ont dclar avoir observ la mammite clinique chez les vaches et 84% d'entre eux avaient recours aux infusions intramammaires pour traiter les quartiers infects. Lors de la validation, tous les tests dtectaient la dihydrostresptomycine, l'oxyttracycline et la gentamycine en-dessous de la limite maximum de rsidu recommande par le Codex Alimentarius, mais des disparits ont t notes quant la dtection de rsidus de pnicilline. Le Delvotest SP s'est avr plus fiable que les deux autres tests. Seul 1/59 chantillons de lait (1,7%) examins avait des rsidus antimicrobiens, tel que dtect par le Delvotest® SP, ce qui montre que les rsidus antimicrobiens dans le lait dans les petites fermes laitires dans la municipalit de Morogoro ne constituaient pas un srieux problme. Mots-cls: mdicaments, rsidus, petites exploitations agricoles, Morogoro, TanzanieBulletin of Animal Health and Production Journal Vol. 53(4) 2005: 234-24