[e-drug] Study outcomes: Sustainability of Malaria RDTs

e-drug
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E-DRUG: Study outcomes: Sustainability of Malaria RDTs
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Dear e-drug community,

IDA Foundation and Solvoz recently conducted a study on the sustainability of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RTDs). In this collaborative study, we surveyed and interviewed a selection of staff managing waste in health facilities in low and middle-income countries, manufacturers of RDTs, and bioplastic producers.

Study findings
We found that the management of RDT waste practices can potentially cause hazardous fumes containing dioxins and furans, depending on the mixture of waste co-incinerated, these toxic substances can remain in incineration residues which can leach into aquatic systems and soil from the pits. We saw that the use of high-impact polystyrene, aromatic polymer, for test strip cassettes is of high concern as it can give rise to undesirable substances during lower temperature incineration. In discussions with manufacturers, we found a willingness to evaluate the use of less-polluting polymers such as bio-plastics, but currently, there are no commercial malaria RDTs using safe plastics yet.

As part of the study, we developed a set of Sustainability Criteria to promote sustainable procurement of malaria RDTs. The findings from this study are not necessarily specific to malaria RDTs but also applicable to other RDTs and self-tests where a test cassette is used.

Next steps
Solvoz and IDA would like to continue the discussion with stakeholders on how to create space for sustainable rapid diagnostic tests. In the recommendations of the report, we have suggested running multistakeholder dialogue or workshops as a starting point. We would be interested in hearing from interested parties.

Please contact IDA Foundation (Floor Toxopeus - ftoxopeus@idafoundation.org or Harm Veerkamp - hveerkamp@idafoundation.org) if you would like to receive the report, discuss further with IDA and Solvoz on sustainable procurement. We would appreciate any feedback from you or your organization on the study as well as any ideas on how the topic of sustainability can be furthered.

With kind regards,

Floor Toxopeus
Sustainability and Strategic Communications Lead
IDA Foundation
www.idafoundation.org
Floor Toxopeus <ftoxopeus@idafoundation.org>

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E-DRUG: Study outcomes: Sustainability of Malaria RDTs (2)
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[Thank you Andreas. We look forward to a response from IDA. BS Co-Moderator]

Dear all,
Wouldn't there be a similar (and even bigger ) problem with Covid-19 Rapid Tests kits that are all over the world right now (or they rightly should be)?

Best
Andreas Wulf
Medico international
Andreas Wulf <wulf@medico.de>

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E-DRUG: Study outcomes: Sustainability of Malaria RDTs (3)
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Thank you for your comment Andreas, and a very valid question.

As we currently supply malaria RDT's (and not Covid-19 RDTs) to health organisations in low resource settings, this was the product that we selected for this sustainability study. However, the study acknowledges the fact that the RDT cassettes are used for all types of health topics.

Indeed the wide availability and global use (and disposal) of Covid-19 tests would make it relevant for these types of products as well, which is why we hope to see improvement in the sustainability of these products (which could be applied not only to malaria, but also HIV, COVID-19 RDTs, etc).

Floor Toxopeus
SUSTAINABILITY & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS LEAD
Floor Toxopeus <ftoxopeus@idafoundation.org>