Pharmaceutical Waste Management Practices in Pharmacies and Medicine Stores: Evidence from Bamenda Health District, Cameroon.

Introduction: The steep growth in the pharmaceutical industry over the last several decades has led not only to more medications in markets, but also to significant environmental and public health hazards when these drugs are not properly disposed. More than 3,000 active pharmaceutical substances are being administered worldwide in prescription medicines, over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, and veterinary drugs. Their active ingredients comprise a variety of synthetic chemicals produced by pharmaceutical companies in both the industrialized and the developing world at a rate of 100,000 tons per year. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) accounts for an estimated 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. Over 23 million people have been tested with the aid of swab sticks for the novel Corona virus disease-19(Covid-19) in many parts of the world. This paints a gloomy picture on the quantum of pharmaceuticals that would have been used and eventually disposed. Purpose: This study explored and described pharmaceutical waste management practices by pharmacies and medicine stores operating in Bamenda Health District of the North West Region of Cameroon. Methodology: A mixed research design (Exploratory and Descriptive) was used. The study was cross-sectional. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling was used to identify 187 medicine stores while an official list from the Bamenda Health District of the NWR of Cameroon was sought to identify 13 pharmacies. Structured closed ended questionnaires and unstructured oral interviews were used to collect primary data. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the data while inferential statistics was used to test statistical significance. Results: In addition to sale of drugs, medicine stores offered services such as consultation, wound dressing, injection administration, laboratory tests, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs). Pharmacies carried out solely the sale of drugs. There was a statistically significant difference in pharmaceutical waste management practices between pharmacies and medicine stores. Unique contribution to policy: Incentives in the form of financial reimbursements, tax cuts or tax holidays could be offered by the state to licensed drug dispensers who comply with national guidelines on sale of drug and pharmaceutical waste management.

Oxidation Characteristics of Water Soluble Fractions of Agro-Stalks with Focus on Function of Reactive Inorganics

In order to deepen the understanding of the thermochemical behavior of reactive inorganics, which play an important role in slagging and fouling during combustion of agro-stalks, the oxidation behavior of the water-soluble fraction of corn stover, wheat straw and rice straw was examined using a simultaneous thermogravimetric analyzer. The oxidation characteristics were discussed in combination with elemental analysis of water-soluble fractions. Results showed that reactive inorganics elements account for 30–40% in water-soluble fractions of the three agro-stalks and carbon was oxidized at two separate stages. Four stages were found during oxidation of water-soluble fractions – (1) devolatilisation of organics (100‒400 °C); (2) oxidation of char (400–650 °C); (3) oxidation of char with melting of salts or decomposition of carbonate (650–800 °C); (4) vaporization of KCl (800–1000 °C). This work provides a base study for an optimized design of combustion for agro-stalks and pharmaceutical waste.

Green Synthesis of Hexagonal Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Flakes Using Pluronic F127-Gelatin Template for Adsorption and Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) with uniform hexagonal flake morphology has been successfully synthesized using a combination of gelatin as natural template with F127 via hydrothermal method. The resulting hematite was investigated as adsorbent and photocatalyst for removal of ibuprofen as pharmaceutical waste. Hexagonal flake-like hematite was obtained following calcination at 500 °C with the average size was measured at 1–3 µm. Increasing the calcination temperature to 700 °C transformed the uniform hexagonal structure into cubic shape morphology. Hematite also showed high thermal stability with increasing the calcination temperatures; however, the surface area was reduced from 47 m2/g to 9 m2/g. FTIR analysis further confirmed the formation Fe-O-Fe bonds, and the main constituent elements of Fe and O were observed in EDX analysis for all samples. α-Fe2O3 samples have an average adsorption capacity of 55–25.5 mg/g at 12–22% of removal efficiency when used as adsorbent for ibuprofen. The adsorption capacity was reduced as the calcination temperatures increased due to the reduction of available surface area of the hexagonal flakes after transforming into cubes. Photocatalytic degradation of ibuprofen using hematite flakes achieved 50% removal efficiency; meanwhile, combination of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation further removed 80% of ibuprofen in water/hexane mixtures.

Green Synthesis of Hexagonal Hematite (α-Fe2O3 ) Flakes Using Pluronic F127-Gelatin Template for Adsorption and Photodegradation of Ibuprofen

Hematite (-Fe2O3) with uniform hexagonal flakes morphology has been successfully synthesized using a combination of gelatin as natural template with F127 via hydrothermal method. The resulting hematite was investigated as adsorbent and photocatalyst for removal of ibuprofen as pharmaceutical waste. Hexagonal flake-like hematite was obtained following calcination at 500 oC with the average size was measured at 1-3 µm. Increasing the calcination temperature to 700 oC transformed the uniform hexagonal structure into cubic shape morphology. Hematite also showed high thermal stability with increasing the calcination temperatures, however, the surface area was reduced from 47 m2/g to 9 m2/g. FTIR analysis further confirmed the formation Fe-O-Fe bonds, and the main constituent elements of Fe and O were observed in EDX analysis for all samples. Fe2O3-G samples have an average adsorption capacity of 55-25.5 mg/g at 12-22% of removal efficiency when used as adsorbent for ibuprofen. The adsorption capacity was reduced with increasing the calcination temperatures due to the reduction of available surface area of the hexagonal flakes when transformed into cube. Photocatalytic degradation of ibuprofen using hematite flakes achieved 50% of removal efficiency meanwhile combination of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation further removed 80% of ibuprofen in water/hexane mixtures.