Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Front Public Health. 2020 Nov 13;8:592345. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.592345. eCollection 2020.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is an essential item to protect from exposure to infectious pathogens or contaminants, which is frequently used at health care settings and public spheres since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. There is no prior study investigating public perception and attitudes toward PPE-related waste disposal in Bangladesh. Hence, an online survey was carried out among 1,303 Bangladeshi adult residents to explore the issue. Results stated that face mask and hand gloves were the widely used PPE, where around 45.50% mask and 31.60% hand gloves were disposable. Approximately 94.50% of the participants percepted to use at least one type of PPE while going outside. Only 18.65% of the respondents percepted to burn the PPE-related waste, while most of them reported other less protective disposal measures. Females, urban residents, and participants with higher education were found to have better perception and attitudes toward PPE-related waste disposal. To the best of the authors' knowledge, being the first exploratory study in the country, the present findings are anticipated to be helpful at policy levels with respect to arranging awareness programs.
个人防护设备（PPE）是保护人们免受传染性病原体或污染物暴露的重要物品，自 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）爆发以来，它在医疗保健场所和公共领域被频繁使用。目前尚无研究调查孟加拉国人对 PPE 相关废物处理的看法和态度。因此，对 1303 名孟加拉国成年居民进行了在线调查，以探讨这一问题。结果表明，口罩和手套是使用最广泛的 PPE，其中约 45.50%的口罩和 31.60%的手套是一次性的。大约 94.50%的参与者表示在外出时至少使用过一种 PPE。只有 18.65%的受访者认为应该焚烧 PPE 相关废物，而大多数人则报告了其他防护性较差的处理措施。研究发现，女性、城市居民和受教育程度较高的参与者对 PPE 相关废物处理的看法和态度更好。据作者所知，这是该国的第一项探索性研究，预计这些发现将有助于政策层面制定宣传计划。
