This project will develop and implement a comprehensive medical waste management training program inclusive of health & safety best practices, infection control, and patient safety that will be disseminated nationwide throughout all three healthcare levels of Mongolia as well as the general public, policy makers, curriculum development with Health Sciences University and a final conference.

Brief summary:
The FIRE’s comprehensive training program on health safety and medical waste management is focused on the following objectives:
1. Development of the training curriculum and materials (including manuals, videos, a website, posters, handouts, power point presentations, etc.) with stakeholders for 4 different level of training participants;
    a) inspectors and quality managers
    b) health care workers and waste handlers
    c) administrators and  decision makers
    d) general public.
2. Implementation of the “ training of the trainers” system with the State Professional Inspection Agency and Department of Health in UB and nationwide.
3. Continuation of the training by the trainers in UB and countryside to HCWs and hospital administrators at all 3 hospital levels.
4. Advocacy of the proper waste management to general public and policy makers
5. Government capacity strengthening – international study tour for best practices
6. Health Sciences University curriculum building
7. Final conference

Monitoring and Evaluation and Sustainability:
The project team will actively monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the training program in conjunction with MoH, DoH, SPIA and local health departments.  The following strategies will be implemented:
•Trainees will be given a pre and post questionnaire testing the basic competencies of the information and indicator checklist of M&E provided.  This understanding ensures the training was understood, it allows for identification of retraining opportunities if necessary, and helps to document the effectiveness of the training process.
•Monitoring and evaluation indicator daily checklists will be completed at every health care facility across Mongolia. These reports will be initiated, collected, and analyzed in cooperation with the State Inspection Agency.
•Trainers will be asked to travel to UB for a focus group session to discuss experiences training their healthcare facility staff as well as provide feedback on safety practice improvement.
•Unannounced audits using tailored inspection checklists based on facility will be created in cooperation with State Professional Inspection Agency and conducted to assess health& safety, infection control, and patient safety practices on site.  
•The knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey on health safety, medical waste management and hepatitis awareness will be repeated at the end of the training project and the results compared the current KAP survey results. The monitoring and evaluation indicators to be used are based on the current survey results consistent with the MOH guideline and statistics.
•The final conference inclusive of international consultants, all stakeholders and representative of each aimags will be organized for the lessons learned and recommendations and strategy further.  

Through capacity building and strengthening, the safe and sustainable management of health care waste will be achieved on a long-term national basis. The trained Inspectors, Quality Managers and HCWs will monitor the health care waste management systems and health safety to ensure compliance. This monitoring will be long term with the assistance of SPIA, DOH and MOH.  The MOH and health sector personnel who have intensive training will ensure conformity with good practice across the entire country through:
Increase the number of mandatory standards applicable to the management of HCW
–Create a control/inspection system to enforce standards & other legal requirements.
–Define responsibilities, professional obligations & formal qualifications for healthcare waste management for personnel at all levels.
–Follow-up and refresher courses: Annual repetition of courses will be conducted by the local Inspectors and Quality Managers to provide refreshment as well as orientation for new employees and for existing employees with new responsibilities. It will also provide updates on policy changes.

The promotion of sound HCW and health and safety practices by increasing HCWs, policy makers and the general population’s knowledge and skills will help to decrease the incidence of exposure to these wastes through more responsible actions which will ultimately lead to the reduction in blood borne virus infections including hepatitis B, C, D and HIV.

Partners: Ministry of Health (MoH), World Health Organization (WHO), Department of Health (DoH), State Professional Inspection Agency (SPIA), School of Public Health – Health science University (HSUM), Ulaanbaatar health authority department

Period: 3 year

Volunteer Opportunities
Training Material Development - We are currently creating our training materials. Please lets know if you would like to assist with this development.
Travel to Mongolia - You can assist with training for two week intervals. Please contact us for more information.
Resource Development - We are actively looking for funding and possible vaccine suppliers for this program.

For More Information please visit the following links: Full HSWM Program Description / Mongolian Medical System