Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): MAAUN International Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Research and Innovations (MIMJRI)
Articles

Knowledge, Awareness and Attitude of Healthcare Providers and Waste Handlers towards Healthcare Waste Management in Kano State, Nigeria

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  • N. A Yaro,
  • Y. M Adamu,
  • L. A. S Danbuzu,
  • H Garba,
  • M. U Mohammed
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59479/jiaheri.v2i1.159
Categories

Published 10/15/2025

Keywords

  • healthcare waste management;,
  • knowledge;,
  • awareness;,
  • attitude;,
  • waste handlers;,
  • training;,
  • Kano State;,
  • Nigeria
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Yaro, N. A., Adamu, Y. M., Danbuzu, L. A. S., Garba, H., & Mohammed, M. U. (2025). Knowledge, Awareness and Attitude of Healthcare Providers and Waste Handlers towards Healthcare Waste Management in Kano State, Nigeria. Journal of Institute of Africa Higher Education Research and Innovation (IAHERI), 2(1), 182–203. https://doi.org/10.59479/jiaheri.v2i1.159

Abstract

Effective healthcare waste management (HCWM) depends not only on infrastructure and regulation but on what healthcare providers and waste handlers know, believe and do. This study examines the knowledge, awareness and attitude of healthcare providers (HCPs) and waste handlers (WHs) towards healthcare waste management in Kano State, Nigeria. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional survey of 30 healthcare facilities (10 purposively selected, 20 by stratified random sampling) across urban and rural local government areas, supported by key informant interviews, field observation and a review of facility records. Awareness of colour-coded containers was generally low: only one-third of HCPs were moderately aware, 15% were not aware at all, and awareness was concentrated in tertiary and secondary facilities a pattern linked to the John Snow Incorporated Making Medical Injections Safer project that supplied colour-coded materials between 2004 and 2009 but was never sustained. Waste handlers were substantially less aware than HCPs, reflecting lower levels of formal education. Awareness of the health risks of poor HCWM was high among HCPs (100%) but over one-quarter of waste handlers were unaware of those risks. Only a small minority of either group had ever attended HCWM training, yet among those who had, over 90% considered it important citing the absence of segregation materials as the main barrier to applying what they learned. Nearly one-third of HCPs regarded HCWM as an extra burden on their clinical work, and about one-fifth considered segregation undesirable. Over one-third of waste handlers were involved in the re-use and sale of components of unsegregated healthcare waste, including plastic bottles, aluminium cans, drug vials and used syringes, creating serious public health risks. Almost half of HCPs and over 40% of waste handlers expressed dissatisfaction with how healthcare waste was managed in their facilities. The study concludes that deficits in knowledge, attitude and training compounded by the unavailability of basic segregation materials are central to poor HCWM practice in Kano State, and that training without the tools to apply it cannot change behaviour.

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