KNOWLEDGE,ATTITUDE,AND PRACTICE OF MEDICAL WASTE HANDLERS TOWARDS WASTE MANAGEMENT AND ASSOCIATED FACTORIES IN EAST HARERGHE ZONE PUBLIC HEALTH CARE FACILITIES; EASTERN ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

WHO defined the term medical wastes (MW) as; wastes generated from all types of healthcare facilities and it is considered as the second dangerous waste in the World that needs to be properly disposed by trained Medical waste handlers. Medical waste management is still a major concern in the world; especially in developing countries including Ethiopia, and the problem of Public Healthcare Facilities in selected study area “East Harerghe Zone” can be the best example for the statement. Medical waste handlers have significant role in the management of medical wastes and they need to have adequate knowledge, attitude, and practices. The statement of problem;no study evidence for the level of knowledge, attitude & practice of medical waste handlers towards medical waste management and contributing factors. Objective; To Asses Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Medical Waste Handlers towards Health facility Waste management, andassociated factories in East Harerghe Zone public Health Facility ; Eastern Ethiopia from November - 15 – 2020 to January -30 - 2021. Methodology; Healthcare facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in EastHarerghe Zone. The study population was medical waste handlers working in Public healthcare facilities found in East Harerghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaires.TheSample size was 222 and three stages sampling procedure and sampling technique has been used. Data has been analyzed by using, the SPSS - version 24, and the associated factors by using bivariate and multivariate with 5% the statistical significance. Result; A total of 196 cleaners have participated; which gives 88% response rate. 99 % were females, and 46.6% had service year (1-5). Only 48.9% participants were found to have adequate knowledge, 61.2% of them were found to have, favorable attitude and 53.6% of participants were found to have, adequate practice. Only Training had been showed statistically significant association with knowledge, Attitude and practice outcome variables.In addition service year, Knowledge & Attitude were showed statistically significant association with practice outcome. Conclusion: the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice level of Medical waste handlers ware concluded as at lower level & need of training to improve their knowledge, attitude and practice. Only training was concluded as factor of all the three dependent variable outcomes. Recommendations:All Public Healthcare facilities, Districts and East Harerghe zonal health offices should facilitate on job training to improve Knowledge, Attitude and practice