This document, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017, highlights the key aspects of safe healthcare waste management in order to guide policymakers, practitioners and facility managers to improve such services in healthcare facilities. It is based on the comprehensive WHO handbook ‘Safe Management of Wastes from Health-Care Activities’ (WHO, 2014), and also takes into consideration relevant World Health Assembly resolutions, other United Nations documents, and emerging global and national developments on water, sanitation, hygiene, and infection prevention and control.