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UNDP Indonesia and India's eGov Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to tackle the critical challenge of infectious medical waste management in Indonesia. The collaboration aims to leverage eGov Foundation's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) - DIGIT, to implement a cohesive solution at speed and scale.
This partnership between UNDP Indonesia and eGov Foundation stems from close collaboration and engagement with diverse stakeholders with a shared commitment to drive sustainable and efficient waste management practices in the country. The joint effort aims to bring visibility and accountability to the end-to-end management of infectious medical waste across nearly 13,000 health facilities nationwide in Indonesia.
As part of the partnership, Indonesia will adopt eGov Foundation's open-source foundational system DIGIT Sanitation platform, specifically designed to accommodate contextualisation and the reuse of components across various waste streams and geographies. This platform approach empowers Indonesia to extend its digitalisation efforts at speed and scale beyond infectious medical waste and encompass other waste streams like faecal sludge, solid waste, and chemical waste. By leveraging the existing digital building blocks of the technology stack, the collaboration seeks to expedite the development of efficient and cost-effective applications.
The pressing need for this collaboration is underscored by recent data from Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry Affairs (MOEF), which reported a 30 percent surge in daily medical waste to 382 tons after the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic levels of approximately 293 tons. These alarming statistics, gathered from 2,820 hospitals and 9,884 health centres nationwide, emphasise the urgent necessity for comprehensive and nation-wide intervention in infectious medical waste management.
