The Deputy Director General of the Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion under the Ministry of Health, Mrs Viengkhan Phixay (second left), delivers her remarks at the project launch ceremony in Xiengkhouang province last Friday.    --Photo GGGI

Xiengkhouang province launches US$560,000 healthcare waste management project

Xiengkhouang province has launched a US$560,000 project to improve healthcare waste management and introduce circular economy practices, helping strengthen public health safeguards and environmental protection across the region.
The project, entitled “Establishing Circular Economy in Healthcare Operations in Xiengkhouang province”, was officially inaugurated at the Provincial Health Office last Friday.
Funded by the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH), the initiative is being implemented by the Ministry of Health with technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The scheme seeks to strengthen healthcare waste management systems and reduce risks associated with the open burning of medical waste, a practice that can pose serious threats to public health and the environment.
Through the introduction of safer, non-combustion treatment technologies and circular economy approaches, the initiative aims to protect communities, healthcare workers and the province’s natural environment.
Activities will be implemented across the seven districts of Paek, Kham, Khoun, Phoukout, Phaxay, Nonghaet and Mokmai. Planned interventions include providing waste segregation equipment, improving waste collection systems, and training healthcare personnel in proper waste management practices.
The project focuses on three key objectives – strengthening policies and technical capacity for environmentally sustainable healthcare waste management, improving waste segregation and collection systems at healthcare facilities, and enhancing transportation and treatment systems to ensure the safe disposal of healthcare waste while reducing environmental impacts.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, the Deputy Director General of the Department of Hygiene and Health Promotion under the Ministry of Health, Mrs Viengkhan Phixay, said more than half of Laos’s hospitals continue to rely on open burning as their primary method of healthcare waste treatment due to inadequate infrastructure.
The partnership with GGGI, WHO and KOFIH will help address these challenges in Xiengkhouang by introducing reliable waste segregation systems and centralised non-combustion treatment technologies, and contributing to improved healthcare standards and environmental protection in the province, she said.
KOFIH Laos Country Representative, Mr Won-Seok Park, said the project is an integral part of the organisation’s broader maternal and child health programme in Laos. He emphasised that the physical environment of health facilities has a direct impact on the quality of healthcare services delivered to communities, particularly mothers and children who require safe, clean and well-managed healthcare settings.
Head of the Circular Economy Unit at GGGI Lao PDR, Mr George Asiimwe, said the organisation has worked with the Lao government since 2017 to promote sustainable solid waste management and improve healthcare and urban environments through circular economy approaches.
He noted that applying this experience to specialised healthcare waste management represents an important milestone, and stressed that the long-term success of the project will depend on strong local ownership and close collaboration among relevant agencies.
The project is expected to contribute to safer healthcare services, improved environmental management, and stronger institutional capacity for healthcare waste management across Xiengkhouang province.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update June 11, 2026)