Management of pharmaceutical waste in the Babylon Governorate

Abstract

Globally, a massive amount of expired or leftover medications accumulates each year because of pharmaceutical overprescription, combined with overproduction. This pharmaceutical waste poses environmental, economic, and so-cial/ethical challenges. The objective of this study is to understand societal behavior regarding the disposal of medi¬cations in the Babylon Governorate and develop a prototype of a knowledge-based system that promotes proper disposal of pharmaceutical waste. A two-phase cross-sectional study was carried out. The first phase involved inter¬viewing pharmacists, while the second phase targeted the general population. A visit to Aljiumhori Hospital was made in order to assess the pharmaceutical waste disposal methods. The study found that most pharmacists (70%) and people (59.2%) prefer throwing expired medicine in the trash can. Moreover, 64.4% of the people participating in our study believe that placing unused drugs in special containers in each region is the best disposal method. Additionally, 48.2% of households are unaware of the environmental and health consequences of this waste. Pharmaceutical waste disposal in the Babylon Governorate is poorly managed. The absence of processes separating medical waste from general waste and the use of sanitary landfills as the sole method of disposal can pose serious environmental and public health risks. One can only address this issue with proper waste management, staff training, and protocol adherence.