Health risks of solid waste management practices in rural Ghana: A semi-quantitative approach toward a solid waste safety plan.

Clicks: 228
ID: 276428
2023
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #161 of 276 articles by views in Environmental research

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 276 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Inadequate solid waste management (SWM) can lead to environmental contamination and human health risks. The health risks from poor SWM can vary based on specific practices and exposure pathways. Thus, it is necessary to adequately understand the local context. This information, however, is rarely available in low-resource settings, particularly in rural areas. A solid waste safety plan could be helpful in these settings for gathering necessary data to assess and minimize health risks. As a step in developing such a tool, a semi-quantitative health risk analysis of SWM practices in nine Ghanaian rural villages was undertaken. Data on SWM in each village were collected through qualitative field observations and semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders. SWM-related health risks were assessed using the collected data, similar case studies in the scientific literature and dialogue among an assembled team of experts. The analysis identified context-specific practices and exposure pathways that may present the most substantial health risks as well as targeted solutions for mitigation risks. A risk assessment matrix was developed to quantify SWM risks as low, medium, high, or very high based on the likelihood and severity of identified hazards. The highest SWM risks were identified from dumpsites and uncontrolled burying of solid waste. More specifically, a very high or high risk of infectious and vector-borne diseases from SWM in the villages was identified, both in the disposal of solid waste in dumpsites and uncontrolled burying of solid waste. Additionally, a very high or high risk of inhalation, ingestion or dermal contact with contaminants was found in the disposal of solid waste in dumpsites, open burning of waste and reuse of waste from dumpsites as compost. The results demonstrate the potential value of a solid waste safety plan and a parsimonious approach to collect key local data to inform its contents.
Reference Key
vinti2023healthenvironmental Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Vinti, Giovanni;Bauza, Valerie;Clasen, Thomas;Tudor, Terry;Zurbrügg, Christian;Vaccari, Mentore;
Journal Environmental research
Year 2023
DOI
10.1016/j.envres.2022.114728
URL
Keywords
health risk low- and middle-income countries solid waste management rural ghana solid waste safety plan

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.