Health Care Without Harm in Africa

 

 

Latest news

Ghana| Installation of autoclaves in hospitals

Posted in: May 2018

Health care facilities in Ghana have installed autoclaves and other equipment to improve health care waste management, as part of a Medical Waste project that is being coordinated by United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Health Organization and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH).

During a 6-day visit to Ghana (22-27 April 2018), Ruth Stringer, HCWH’s Science and Policy Coordinator, and a group of UNDP experts visited the hospitals, worked with the autoclave manufacturing team to install the equipment and trained the staff that will be operating the machines. Stringer explained that "this is a very exciting phase of the project. We have trained over thirty technical staff and installed the first autoclaves in the sites constructed by the hospitals. Now safer waste management will start, first here in Ghana, and soon in the other project countries."

Read more


South Africa | The GGHH community meeting

Posted in: March 2018

Written by: Luqman Yesufu, , GGHH Campaign Manager, Membership Outreach and Engagement in South Africa, groundWork

groundWork hosted its 5th annual community planning meeting for Global Green and Healthy Hospital (GGHH) coordinators on the 1st and 2nd of February 2018. The purpose of this meeting was to review key GGHH highlights and challenges in 2017 and to plan for both individual and joint work for 2018. Two GGHH sustainability coordinators or champions, from across five provinces – Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and North West – were invited to the groundWork office in Pietermaritzburg. The meeting created a space for members to learn and share experiences while finding solutions to the common challenges they face as they implement their sustainability goals.

Read more (page 18)


South Africa | GGHH member takes action on water crisis

Posted in: March 2018. Source: Times Live

Cape hospitals turn to desalination‚ boreholes in water crisis

Private hospitals are not taking any chances regarding Western Cape premier Helen Zille’s promise that water supplies will be maintained to their facilities in the event of Day Zero.

The three biggest hospital groups — Netcare (a GGHH member and 2020 Challenge participant)‚ Mediclinic and Life Healthcare — are investing heavily in alternative water supplies from the sea and underground so they can run independently of the municipal grid in an emergency. Many of the measures they are taking in Cape Town are being rolled out in other water-scarce regions‚ such as the Eastern Cape.


South Africa | Members meet to discuss climate change and plan for 2018

Posted in: February 2018

The 5th GGHH Community Planning Meeting took place on 1-2 February in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, gathering representatives from 10 members in 5 different provinces in the country (Western Cape, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and North West).

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss key issues for the health sector in South Africa, such as climate change and energy, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Members of the GGHH Global Secretariat also joined the meeting virtually to share updates on GGHH tools, resources and programs, such as HippocratesGGHH Connectand the Green Health Challenges.


South Africa | GGHH members waste exchange 2017

Posted in: November 2017. Written by: Luqman Yesufu, GGHH Campaign Manager, Membership Outreach and Engagement in South Africa, groundWork.

GroundWork, HCWH’s strategic partner in South Africa, together with the Gauteng Directorate of Health Care Waste and Occupational Hygiene Risk Management, hosted the “2017 GGHH Waste Exchange” on 23-24 October 2017 for South African members. 25 delegates from four provinces in the country – Gauteng, Free State, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal- attended the event. Read more


Older news archive


groundWork South Africa

groundWork is a non-profit environmental justice service and developmental organization working primarily in Southern Africa in the areas of Climate & Energy Justice, Coal, Environmental Health, Global Green and Healthy Hospitals, and Waste. 

groundWork seeks to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people in South Africa, and increasingly in Southern Africa, through assisting civil society to have a greater impact on environmental governance.
groundWork places particular emphasis on assisting vulnerable and previously disadvantaged people who are most affected by environmental injustices. Visit website