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Country : Afghanistan HDI Population [mio] 23 Summary The HCWM situation in Afghanistan is critical. This is due to a combination of lack of financial, technical and management resources as well as the overall bad conditions of most medical infrastructures.

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Introduction
With numerous infrastructures destroyed or in bad condition, healthcare waste isn’t properly managed in many places. A number of individual initiatives are being carried out but would need better coordination.

1. Management / institutional aspects
The Environmental Health dept. of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) is the agency that has overall responsibility for HCWM.
The department is currently working on an Environmental Plan that should soon be validated.

2. Training aspects
Most hospitals throughout the country have received some basic training provided by USAID on infection prevention.

3. Regulatory aspects
At national level, The Environmental Health dept. of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) is in charge of regulating all activities relating to HCWM.
At hospital level, the infection prevention committees are in charge of insuring the appropriate practices are complied with.

4. Financial aspects
Very limited financial resources are allocated to HCWM, hampering measurable progress.

5. Technological aspects
Linked to the limited financial and technical resources available as well as the priority given to overall reconstruction of medical infrastructures, most hospitals don’t have functional facilities to process HCW. An unknown number of hospitals are equipped with incinerators.