Amid rapidly advancing diagnostic technologies and expanding laboratory services across Africa, the safe and sustainable management of laboratory waste has become an urgent public health, environmental, and biosafety priority. In response to persistent challenges including limited waste treatment infrastructure, weak regulatory enforcement, inadequate technical capacity, and fragmented national waste management systems, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), in collaboration with the United Sates Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) and technical partners including Waste Not Want Not (WNWN) International, has developed this comprehensive guidance document.
This resource is designed to help African countries strengthen their clinical laboratory waste management systems. Drawing on implementation experience from multiple countries and leveraging initiatives supported through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the document provides practical, evidence-based recommendations for selecting, implementing, and sustainably financing laboratory waste treatment technologies, with particular focus on waste streams generated by HIV viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID) molecular diagnostic platforms.
It examines the current landscape of laboratory waste management across the continent, identifies critical gaps in infrastructure, policy, workforce capacity, and financing, and offers a structured framework for strengthening national systems that connect facility-level practices with broader waste treatment and disposal mechanisms.
Through operational considerations, technology selection criteria, defined stakeholder roles, illustrative case studies, and monitoring approaches, this document serves as a strategic resource for policymakers, laboratory leaders, and partners committed to advancing biosafety, protecting public health and the environment, and ensuring that Africa’s expanding laboratory systems operate safely, sustainably, and in alignment with international standards.