Uganda steps up: Pioneering mercury-free healthcare for a safer future

At a  bustling outpatient sanatorium on the outskirts of Kampala, a nurse reaches for a thermometer—slim, silvery, and fragile. It’s a mercury-containing instrument, once a staple in healthcare, now identified as a calm hazard. Uganda is taking daring steps to eliminate such dangers and transition toward mercury-free healthcare.

In healthcare settings, mercury-containing devices—especially thermometers and blood stress measuring devices (sphygmomanometers)—have prolonged been ragged to diagnose illness and display screen treatment. However mercury, a potent neurotoxin, remains a contributing factor to Uganda’s burden of disease. Its poisonous outcomes on the nervous, immune, and digestive systems—as successfully as the lungs, kidneys, and pores and skin—have introduced about global action.

According to Dr. Herbert Nabaasa, Commissioner of Environmental Health at the Ministry of Health, “selling utilizing safe and mercury-free alternatives, coupled with appropriate disposal of mercury-containing devices, provides a sustainable answer to this public health threat.”

Uganda, according to its National Minamata Initial Assessment Characterize, between 2013 and 2015 imported an average of 25,642 such devices annually, along side an estimated 2,564 manometer blood stress devices. As of 2018, mercury air pollution from healthcare sources in Uganda totaled 442 kg per year (205 kg from manometers and gauges, 70 kg from incinerated medical waste, 146 kg from dental amalgam, and 21 kg from thermometers).

The 2013 Minamata Conference on Mercury, to which Uganda is a party, and entered into force on 16 August 2017, calls for the phase-out of mercury-containing medical devices and the adoption of safer alternatives. “Research have shown that digital thermometers can be as much as one-third cheaper than their mercury counterparts when pondering the plump lifecycle, without compromising clinical accuracy,” says Dr. Suraj Man Shrestha, WHO Programme Management Officer.

A watch carried out by National Ambiance Management Authority (NEMA) in 2021 in 38 facilities across Uganda advised that easiest 25.7% of these facilities discarded mercury containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers to authorized waste management operators for disposal.

Uganda is one in all 5 nations globally implementing the 5-year Global Ambiance Facility (GEF) mission aimed at phasing out mercury supported by United Nations Ambiance Programme (UNEP) with technical guidance from World Health Organization (WHO). Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water and Ambiance, alongside NEMA, are the leading executive entities for the mission.

The initiative helps vogue of national strategies to phase out the manufacture, import, and export of mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers, based on WHO recommendations and the Minamata Conference on Mercury, adopted in 2013.

Underneath the mission, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (RRH) in southwestern Uganda and St. Francis Hospital, Nsambya in Kampala are to attend from the substitution of mercury medical devices with mercury-free ones.

An stock carried out at Mbarara RRH reported having one mercury thermometer and one sphygmomanometer still in spend. “We welcome the mission and will aid it absolutely. Most of our gadgets are already utilizing mercury-free vital signs monitors,” explains Dr Deus Twesigye, Acting Director of Mbarara RRH.

At St. Francis Hospital, Nsambya, the facility reported having six mercury thermometers and fifty mercury sphygmomanometers still in spend. “We gawk forward to equally reliable substitutes,” says Sr. Dr Assumpta Nabawanuka the hospital director for clinical products and services.

“I verify that we have the capacity to store mercury devices and manage related waste in an environmentally friendly way given that we have performed it before,” says Engineer Gerald Lumu Deputy General manager Luwero Industries Restricted.

To aid the transition, NEMA has updated the National Ambiance Act (Cap 181) and related regulations to limit the spend and recycling of non-digital mercury measuring devices after the 2020 phase-out date. These updates also address the management of mercury-contaminated websites and waste.

“As soon as Luwero Industries Restricted will get the necessary license from NEMA to store mercury and take into consideration secondary containment for the mercury devices, it is miles an ideal facility for the meantime storage for these mercury containing devices,” says Anne Nakafero, the Principal biodiversity officer at NEMA.

Uganda’s commitment to mercury-free healthcare is more than a coverage shift—it’s a daring declaration of its dedication to safeguarding public health and the environment. By aligning with global conventions, investing in safer technologies, and empowering establishments care for Luwero Industries Restricted to manage hazardous waste responsibly, the country is surroundings a extremely efficient precedent for the Africa State. This transformation is no longer upright about replacing devices; it’s about reimagining healthcare systems that prioritize safety, sustainability, and innovation. With persevered collaboration among executive agencies, healthcare providers, and international partners, Uganda is no longer easiest holding its folks today nonetheless also laying the foundation for a healthier, toxin-free day after today.