Hospital workers' awareness of health and environmental impacts of poor clinical waste disposal in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.

Due to the infectious nature of some clinical waste, poor disposal practices have sparked concern regarding the impact on public health and the environment. Lack of sufficient knowledge of the associated risks may be a strong factor contributing to inadequate disposal practices. We conducted a survey to evaluate hospital workers' awareness of health and environmental impacts of poor clinical waste disposal in Cameroon. We randomly distributed 500 questionnaires to hospital workers in three hospitals in the Northwest Region of Cameroon in April 2008. In addition, we observed collection, segregation, transportation, and disposal of clinical waste at the three hospitals. Of 475 total respondents, most lacked sufficient awareness of any environmental or public health impacts of poor clinical waste disposal and had never heard of any policy--national or international--on safe clinical waste management. Methods of collecting, segregating, transporting and disposing clinical waste at the three hospitals was poor. The development of a comprehensive policy on efficient clinical waste management in Cameroon is imperative.