https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6188-196X
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ABSTRACT
Increases in population and the number of health-care facilities in Dakar has led to considerable increase in biomedical waste (BMW) generation, posing a huge challenge to the already burdened city’s waste management system. Following the special treatment required for BMW due to associated population health and environmental risks, the gap in infrastructural development and the search for pathways to address the challenge, this position paper, examines the evolution of legal framework for biomedical wastes management, related health and environmental issues and policy and program options in the city. Historically, Senegal has ratified many international treaties, including Basel, Stockholm, and Bamako Conventions; however, the paper demonstrates a lack of an efficient chain for BMW disposal in the city. The triangulation of secondary data sources, including implementation evidence, and recent qualitative and quantitative study highlights the disconnections between multiple legal and policy commitments and their efficient implementation, with major barriers attributed to lack of financial resources and weak law enforcement, not only for BMW but solid waste in general. The evidence calls for significant investments for an effective BMW management to address environmental contamination, human exposure and associated loss to health in Dakar and implementation lessons for other Global South municipal actors.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for providing funding for the study (Grant Number ES/L008777/1). Our profound gratitude also goes to Professor Mark Pelling, the Principal Investigator of the Urban ARK project for his guidance and support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The full details of the general Urban ARK Research Programme is provided in Adelekan et al. (Citation2015).
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Notes on contributors
Cheikh Dieng
Cheikh Dieng is an expert in Climate Change, Forest and Natural Resources Management. He is the Mayor of the Municipality of Djida Thiaroye Kao, Pikine Department, Dakar, Senegal and holds a doctoral degree in Environmental Studies of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisga. He was the Director General of the National Agency for Cleanliness of Senegal (Waste management) and Technical Advisor to the President of the Republic of Senegal on the environment and renewable energy, with versed experience in the analysis and development of legislative and regulatory frameworks for environmental management policies.
Blessing Mberu
Blessing Mberu is Head of Urbanization & Wellbeing Research Unit, African Population and Health Research Center and Honorary Professor of Demography and Population Studies, University of Witwatersrand. His work covered migration, urbanization, urban informal settlements and urban health in SSA. He is in the International Advisory Board of Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre and Executive Board of the International Society for Urban Health. He has led multi-disciplinary, multi-country and multi-year research teams across Africa and well published in learned journals in areas relating to migration, urbanization of poverty and health outcomes; urban-rural linkages; household structure and living conditions.
Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene
Zacharie Tsala Dimbuene is a Research Analyst at Statistics Canada with over 20 years’ experience in study and sampling designs, and application of state-of-the-art approaches to program monitoring and evaluation, research and dissemination. He was an Associate Research Scientist at African Population and Health Research Center, during which time he worked at longitudinal data analysis, sampling design, development of the urban health statistics platform and contributing to data revolution initiatives.
Cheikh Faye
Cheikh Faye is the Head of the APHRC West Africa Regional Office, based in Dakar, Senegal. He is leading the “Countdown 2030 Initiative“ http://countdown2030.org/, a multi-institution collaborative that calls for the accountability of governments and development partners; identifies knowledge gaps and proposes new actions for universal coverage of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health. Cheikh is a Data Scientist and passionate about data discoverability. In 2014, he led the development of the APHRC Microdata Portal, an open data platform where high quality research data on health, population, education and urbanization are made publicly and freely available to the research community.
Dickson Amugsi
Dickson Amugsi is an Associate Research Scientist in the Maternal and Child Wellbeing Unit at African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). He is a public health scientist with expertise in public health nutrition and nutritional epidemiology. Dickson also has expertise in using secondary to investigate health issues across the African continent. Cumulatively, he has over 15 years of research experience in Ghana and Kenya.
Isabella Aboderin
Isabella Aboderin is a professor of Gerontology and the chair in Africa Research and Partnerships and the director of the University of Bristol Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC). During the preparation of this paper, Isabella worked as a Senior Research Scientist at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), where she established and led the Aging and Development Research Unit, spearheading work to integrate into continental African Union frameworks a series of critical arguments on missing lenses in the push to cultivate a demographic dividend for Africa, and on approaches to developing long-term care systems.