Print Media Reporting of Health Care Waste Management in South Africa.

Abstract

The media has the ability to frame issues in a way that affects the attitudes and behaviour of the public in responding to policy issues. Given the ability of the media to frame issues in a way that influences policy-making and decision making more generally, an understanding of how the media frames issues relating to healthcare waste in community-based care (CBC) in South Africa could help inform policy-making about proper healthcare waste management (HCWM). However, it is unclear how the media frames issues relating to healthcare waste (HCW) in South Africa. We did not find any single published study on this theme. Therefore, this study aimed at exploring how print media reports on issues relating to HCW in South Africa. We sought to answer the following questions: 1) How do the print media frame problems related to healthcare waste management? 2) How do the media frame options related to healthcare waste management? Using the South African media database, a total of 189 news stories were retrieved from 20 newspapers. Analysis was conducted using content thematic analysis. The media frames revealed healthcare waste management problems as caused mainly by government even if the main perpetrators are waste contractors. There has been blame on the government for delaying in developing a national policy relating to HCWM and also for having inadequate HCW disposal and treatment facilities in the country. As a result, options for addressing the issue of illegal dumping were directed at the government. Options proposed to deal with the challenges include, developing of policies and providing HCW treatment and disposal facilities in the country. The most intriguing thing about the media frames is that, there was no mention of healthcare waste from homes. This raises questions as to whether HCW from homes is even considered as a policy issue in South Africa. The failure of the print media to propose options that include waste contractors who are the main perpetrators of illegal dumping and stockpiling, could lead to half solutions that masks the real problem and focuses on palliatives instead of focusing on all levels of society: mainly the government policy-makers, implementers, government agencies; waste management contractors; health facilities; individual healthcare workers; healthcare professionals; waste workers and cleaners in the health facilities that contribute to the problem.