Support Waste Collectors & Recyclers
Since 2018, DoTW has been working with waste collectors and recyclers in the Kathmandu Valley, and in 2020, has extended its activities to Nepalgunj.
The activities carried out in the two regions contribute to improving the health, well-being and livelihoods of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector. In concrete terms, DoTW aims to mitigate the risks associated with their professional activity and their exposure to a harmful environment and to improve their access to information and to appropriate, quality health services – including in the field of occupational health. Finally, this intervention should enable better recognition of their contribution to sustainable waste management in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.
In 2021, DoTW supported the creation of a coordination platform in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj with public and private organizations, civil society or non-governmental organizations involved in the collection and recycling waste: the players in this sector were able to meet, discuss and draw attention to the problems encountered by workers in this sector, thus strengthening their power to act.
Throughout these years, DoTW strengthened the access of collectors and recyclers in the waste sector to quality health services adapted to their professional activity. Awareness sessions were organized for beneficiaries, in particular on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders, the prevention of risks related to the dismantling of waste, or even on the prevention of animal bites and the tetanus vaccine.
DoTW has further strengthened the capacities of health care facility staff on health and safety at work: the staff of these facilities can thus offer medical consultations adapted to waste collectors and recyclers. Finally, Médecins du Monde has supported the municipality of Kathmandu in upgrading an innovative health center, becoming an “urban center for the promotion of health”, accessible to workers in the waste sector but also to the inhabitants of the Valley.
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