Waste management<\/a> options such as recycling, composting, incineration and landfill impact health and well-being in profound ways, particularly for people who work directly with waste or live and work around waste sites.<\/p>\n Rapid urbanization across the developing world has overwhelmed the capacity of many cities to provide adequate services to their citizens, leading to daunting sustainability challenges. With waste generation rates rising globally, solid waste management (SWM)<\/a> is a recurring theme in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)<\/a> targets:<\/p>\n From 2000\u20132012, waste generated in cities more than doubled, from 680 million tonnes to 1.3 billion tonnes per year, and is expected to nearly double again to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025.<\/p>\n Sustainable solid waste management is an essential service, which protects public health, promotes hygiene and recycling, and reduces waste, emissions and residuals.<\/p>\n From generation, transportation and final disposal, SWM is associated with air pollution exposure patterns that can increase the probability of adverse birth outcomes, specific cancers and respiratory diseases \u2013 particularly for people directly or indirectly involved in waste management or who live near waste sites.<\/p>\n Health, economic and climate co-benefits of greening the waste sector Promoting more sustainable practices in waste management offers an opportunity to develop more equitable health and occupational policies concerning informal sector workers, including children, women and older people, engaged in waste collection and recycling.<\/p>\n Better public health, as well as a reduction in greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants, can be achieved through improved practices of waste management globally<\/p>\n The Urban Health Initiative (UHI) process in Accra assessed the health impacts and potential health and economic co-benefits of SWM practices through: capacity building; knowledge exchange at local and international levels; review of data and existing policy scenarios for SWM plans and their health impacts; and developing policy suggestions for improvements at neighbourhood level, paying particular attention to socioeconomic inequalities within the study areas.<\/p>\n Waste management has not kept pace with Accra\u2019s surging population and the corresponding rise in waste generation; the informal waste sector has grown rapidly because of low labour costs and weak enforcement of existing legislation.<\/p>\nSustainable solid waste management and health<\/h3>\n
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SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH IN ACCRA, GHANA<\/h3>\n
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