STORY: HAITI / HOSPITAL WASTE
TRT: 1.33
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 1 FEBRUARY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
SHOTLIST:
1. Wide shot, Yves Chartier with other WHO staff walking around dump site
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, Water and Sanitation Engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are looking for a site where we can dump all hospital waste because hospital waste
now is piling in hospitals, so I think it’s very urgent that we remove always waste from
hospital and we bring them to a safe place.”
3. Med shot, Yves Chartier at site with other men
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, Water and Sanitation Engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are interested in the environment so we need to find a place which is safe, at least to
deal with the medical waste but also not to contaminate the environment.”
5. Med shot, staff at site
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, Water and Sanitation Engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are going to dig also another place, and trucks will collect and empty public toilets
in town, because they are highly used by the people with no houses anymore, so the
excrete from the public toilets will be collected and bring to this place and again this is an
emergency response. Its not ideal but up very quickly until the normal system will be
back to function.”
7. Zoom out, bulldozer moving rubble
8. Wide shot, waste full with pig sniffing
9. Med shot, waste full of flies
11. Med shot, exterior, hospital
12. Med shot, hospital staff working in waste area
13. Pan right, hospital waste
STORYLINE:
Last month’s earthquake in Haiti overwhelmed the country's health system, leaving
healthcare providers to deal with the major issue of how to properly dispose of medical
waste.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, Water and Sanitation Engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are looking for a site where we can dump all hospital waste because hospital waste
now is piling in hospitals, so I think it’s very urgent that we remove always waste from
hospital and we bring them to a safe place.”
Chartier said current area they found was not ideal but that it was the only land they
could find. He said in time the proper site should not affect the environment or
contaminate the atmosphere.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, water and sanitation engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are interested in the environment so we need to find a place which is safe, at least to
deal with the medical waste but also not to contaminate the environment.”
The presence of waste in public settings also increases risks of the spread of infectious
diseases, such as diarrhea and, for people who may get injured by used needles, Hepatitis
B or C and HIV/AIDS.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yves Chartier, water and sanitation engineer, World Health
Organization (WHO):
“We are going to dig also another place, and trucks will collect and empty public toilets
in town, because they are highly used by the people with no houses anymore, so the
excrete from the public toilets will be collected and bring to this place and again this is an
emergency response. Its not ideal but up very quickly until the normal system will be
back to function.”
WHO has helped establish a system to properly collect the waste from priority health
facilities. They have immunized more than 100 local workers against tetanus and are
providing them with personal protective equipment.
There is a need, however, to rebuild medical waste treatment facilities at hospital level
and consideration is being given to look at creating a centralized treatment plants.