| dc.description.abstract | Disposal of health care waste, particularly from hospitals and health centers is a burning issue. Health-care solid waste in most hospitals is currently disposed of by burying in the dumpsite without any treatment. The purpose of the study was to assess best practices of sustainable medical solid waste management among public hospitals in Meru County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives; To assess how awareness and training, type of medical waste, availability of medical solid disposal equipment and facilities and appropriate technology influence sustainable management of medical solid waste in public hospitals in Meru County. The study was grounded on the Systems Theory and Systems Thinking, Stakeholder Theory. The study used descriptive research design. The target population comprised of staff involved in management of public hospitals in Meru County. Slovin's formula was therefore used to determine the sample size of 177 management staff drawn from 327 target populations comprising of staff involved in management of public hospitals in Meru County. A sample of public hospitals in Meru County was randomly selected. The process made use of questionnaires, secondary data and interviews. The study involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The study used primary data which was collected by use of questionnaires. At the completion of the data collection process, the questionnaires were sorted, coded and analyzed. The Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to generate the required frequencies and percentages to answer the research questions. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the operationalized data. In order to enhance simplicity and ease of understanding, tables were used to present the data. Inferential data analysis was done using multiple regression analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to establish the relations between the independent and dependent variables. The study added new and relevant knowledge on safe management of health care solid waste to management of public hospitals, health policy makers and researchers and academicians. The study found that awareness and training influences management of medical solid waste management in public hospitals in Meru County greatly and that type of medical waste influence sustainable management of medical solid waste management in public hospitals in Meru County in a great extent. The study also revealed that availability of medical solid disposal equipment and facilities greatly influence sustainable management of medical solid waste management in public hospitals in Meru County and that appropriate technology influence sustainable management of medical solid waste management in public hospitals in Meru County in a moderate extent. The study concluded that availability of medical solid disposal equipment and facilities had the greatest effect on sustainable medical solid waste management in Meru County followed by appropriate technology, then awareness and training while type of medical waste had the least effect on the sustainable medical solid waste management in Meru County. The study recommends that technology needs to be at the centre stage of all solid waste management programs of Meru County government as well as other counties in Kenya, that the county should invest in more types of treatment for solid waste management and that public hospitals management should organize educational activities such as the organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops, publication of training manuals, case studies and best practices, and provision of technical and financial assistance should also be conducted | en_US |
