Yenew Chalachew, Yenesew Muluken Azage, Ambelu Argaw, Bayeh Gashaw Melkie, Yeshiwas Almaw Genet
College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
Department of Environmental Health, Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Environ Health Insights. 2025 Jan 9;19:11786302241312770. doi: 10.1177/11786302241312770. eCollection 2025.
Wastewater treatment is crucial to protecting public health and the environment by removing Biohazards. In Ethiopia, however, significant research gaps limit progress, especially regarding the efficiency of Biohazard removal in existing treatment facilities. This review evaluates the effectiveness of current treatment methods for Biohazard removal, highlights key challenges, and offers recommendations.
This scoping review followed PRISMA guidelines, systematically searching databases like NLM. Science Direct, HINARI and Scopus for Biohazard removal studies in Ethiopia, with independent reviewers screening and analyzing relevant data to identify key challenges.
Out of 1218 studies initially recorded by title and abstract, only 11 articles were selected for analysis. The Activated Sludge Process emerged as a highly effective system, achieving 85% to 95% removal of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and total coliforms. Other methods, such as the Conventional Activated Sludge, and Anaerobic-Aerobic Reactors, demonstrated promising results but were found only in select locations. However, the widely adopted Oxidation Ponds, Ethiopia's most common wastewater treatment system, showed the lowest AMR removal efficiency, at just 30% to 50%. Significant challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, high operational costs, and weak regulatory enforcement.
The review underscores the need for affordable wastewater treatment in Ethiopia, highlighting challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and high costs. To enhance effectiveness and reduce public health risks from Biohazards like AMR, recommendations include adopting cost-effective treatment technologies, strengthening regulatory frameworks, increasing public awareness, promoting corporate responsibility, and investing in infrastructure for sustainable wastewater management.
废水处理对于通过去除生物危害来保护公众健康和环境至关重要。然而，在埃塞俄比亚，重大的研究空白限制了进展，尤其是在现有处理设施中生物危害去除效率方面。本综述评估了当前生物危害去除处理方法的有效性，突出了关键挑战，并提出了建议。
本范围综述遵循PRISMA指南，系统地搜索如美国国立医学图书馆、科学Direct、HINARI和Scopus等数据库中有关埃塞俄比亚生物危害去除的研究，由独立评审人员筛选和分析相关数据以确定关键挑战。
在最初通过标题和摘要记录的1218项研究中，仅选择了11篇文章进行分析。活性污泥法是一种高效系统，实现了85%至95%的抗微生物药物耐药性（AMR）和总大肠菌群去除率。其他方法，如传统活性污泥法和厌氧 - 好氧反应器，显示出有前景的结果，但仅在特定地点发现。然而，广泛采用的氧化塘，即埃塞俄比亚最常见的废水处理系统，显示出最低的AMR去除效率，仅为30%至50%。存在重大挑战，包括基础设施不足、运营成本高和监管执法不力。
该综述强调了埃塞俄比亚对经济实惠的废水处理的需求，突出了基础设施不足和成本高等挑战。为提高有效性并降低AMR等生物危害带来的公共卫生风险，建议包括采用具有成本效益的处理技术、加强监管框架、提高公众意识、促进企业责任以及投资于可持续废水管理的基础设施。
