This research had been conducted during year 2012 to review existing data on hospital waste management for some of Khartoum town hospitals and to try to produce appropriate proposals acceptable for waste management and final treatment methods. The overall status of hospital waste management in Khartoum has been assessed through direct visits and designated questionnaires. Eight main hospitals were covered in the study with an overall bed capacity of 2,978. The current waste management practice observed at all studied hospitals was that most of waste, office, general, food, construction debris, and hazardous chemical materials were all mixed together as they are generated, collected, and finally disposed of. Only a small portion of waste in some hospitals (part of potentially infectious, body parts, and sharps) are collected separately and treated in a central incinerator. The estimated value of per bed generation rate in the studied hospitals was found to be 0.87 kg/day, which lies within the range for the low-income countries. In all studied hospitals, it was found that workers were working under very poor unsafe conditions with very low salaries ($35 to $45 per month on average). About 90 % were completely illiterate or had very low education levels. At the national level, no laws considering hospital waste, or even hazardous waste, were found; only some federal general environmental regulations and some procedures from town and city localities for controlling general municipal waste exist. At the hospital level, no policies or rules were found, except in the radiotherapy center, where they manage radioactive wastes under the laws of the Sudanese Atomic Agency. Urgent actions are needed for the remediation and prevention of hazards associated with this type of waste.
The integrative approach of water, energy, and food nexus (WEF nexus) is now widely accepted to offer better planning, development, and operation of these resources. This study presents a first attempt towards understanding the WEF nexus of urban environments in the Nile River Basin under conditions of hydrological droughts and fluvial floods. A case study was conducted for the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile for illustration. The results were based on analyses of river flow and water turbidity data, field observations, a printed questionnaire and an interview of farmers practicing irrigated agriculture, and hydropower modelling. The study analyzes indicators for the association of river water resources environment (intra-annual regime, quantity, and quality), the status of urban irrigated agriculture, water treatment for domestic use, and hydropower generation under hydrological extremes, i.e. droughts and fluvial floods. It additionally examines the consequent interactions between the impacts on three sectors. The present study shows how floods and droughts impose impacts on the seasonal river water quality and quantity and, in turn, on the water treatment for domestic use , irrigated agriculture, and hydro-energy supply in an urban environment.The results demonstrate how the two hydrological phenomena determine the state of hydropower generation from dams, i.e. high energy production during floods and vice versa during droughts.Hydropower dams, in turn, could induce cons in the form of low fertile soils in the downstream due to retaining sediment. Finally, present and potential options to minimize the above risks are discussed.This study is hoped to offer a good support for integrated decision making on increased resource efficiency over the urban environment within the Nile Basin.
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