HCWH partner organisation, Toxics Link together with the Punjab Pollution Control Board and the Indian Medical Association, organised a workshop on the hazards of mercury at Dayanad Medical College.

The workshop stressed the need for replacing mercury-equipped instruments with aneroid-based instrument. During the workshop, Dr Ragini Kumari from Toxics Link pointed out the risks of mercury as a global contaminant and neuro-toxin, and its adverse effect on the human nervous system and other body parts as well as the regional policies framed by the World Health Organisation regarding the replacement of mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometer in the healthcare sector. more

November 2011
South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs Calls for Mercury Medical Device Ban

South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs is recommending that the country’s Ministry of Health issue a directive to all provincial governments immediately suspending the purchase of mercury-based thermometers, blood pressure devices and dental amalgam. The study, entitled, "Analysis of Mercury in Health Sector" contains a dozen recommendations one of which calls for the Ministry of Health to issue and publish regulation that would ban mercury-based medical devices across the board.  more and   read report

October 31, 2011
New Training Video on Mercury Waste in Hospitals

HCWH has released a video meant to be part of training program for hospitals around the world aiming to eliminate mercury and safely manage and store mercury waste while governments search for a more permanent solution.

The video is based on the UNDP-GEF Global Healthcare Waste Project mercury waste management guidelines and was produced with support from UNEP and the government of Norway. It supports the WHO-HCWH Global Mercury Free Initiative goal of developing replicable models of sound mercury waste management in the health sector. It is available in Spanish and English and is adaptable to other languages. It is targeted for health care workers, and will be disseminated and used in developing countries.  more

22 October 2011
WHO-HCWH Mercury-Free Update for INC3

With the third round of global mercury treaty negotiations beginning next week, WHO and HCWH have produced an update on the Global Mercury-Free Healthcare Initiative that charts progress toward the goal of virtual elimination and substitution of mercury thermometers and blood pressure devices around the world by 2017. Highlights include new national policies in Chile and Mongolia, government recommendations for a national policy in South Africa and growing phase-out efforts in hospitals in a broad diversity of countries including India, China, Brazil and Indonesia. more

4 October 2011
China: Hospital Launches Pilot Project to Eliminate Mercury-Containing Medical Devices

HCWH Partner Global Village of Beijing and the Qinhuangdao Maternal and Child Health Hospital launched pilot project on eliminating mercury-containing medical devices in Hebei Province.  The announcement is a positive step forward in contributing to global efforts to substitute mercury-based medical devices while protecting China's health professionals, patients and the environment from the negative impacts of mercury. more

19 September 2011
India: Punjab Doctos Asked to Replace Mercury-based Equipment

Collaborating with HCWH's India Partner, Toxics Link, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) Chairman K S Pannu has asked doctors to replace mercury-based medical equipment with non-mercury devices. In a letter written to the MD of Punjab Health System Corporation, the Director Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Medical Association President and the State President National Integrated Medical Association, Pannu said mercury is a global contaminant and neurotoxin and has an adverse effect on the human nervous system and other body parts. The request cites the WHO-HCWH Global Initiative to achieve virtual elimination of mercury in healthcare in its justification for action. more

August 2011
New Delhi: A Year After Ban, 60 City Hospitals Are Mercury-free

In 2010, the Delhi government issued a stricture to ban the use of mercury-based instruments in hospitals. Following this ban, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) also directed hospitals with 50 beds or more to minimise the use of mercury and eventually stop using mercury-based instruments. Presently and after a year ban, more than 60 hospitals are already mercury-free and, hospitals that have not phased it out, have at stopped buying new mercury-based instruments. more

July 2011
Denpasar Pioneering Mercury-Free Health Care in Indonesia

Health Care Without Harm and its Indonesia partner BaliFokus recently partnered to promote mercury-free health care through the planned phase-out of mercury containing medical devices in seven hospitals Denpasar City, Indonesia. In a recent conference organized in Bali, the two organizations laid the groundwork for implementation in these hospitals as well as replication across the country. more

June 2011
China: Phase-out of Mercury Medical Devices

Global Village of Beijing (a non-government, non-profit organization dedicated to environmental education and public participation based in China) and Changchun Children's Hospital jointly launched a campaign to phase out mercury-containing medical devices in the hospital. This is the first Children's hospital in China to conduct a mercury-free campaign and marks the exciting beginning of the Chinese healthcare sector's self-initiated action for reducing mercury pollution from medical devices.

Representatives from Institute of Environmental Health and Related Product Safety, China CDC, the Chief of Changchun Bureau of Health, Director of Changchun Children’s Hospital and Executive Director of Global Village of Beijing participated the event. The announcement is a positive step forward in contributing to global efforts to substitute mercury-based medical devices while protecting China's health professionals, patients and the environment from the negative impacts of mercury.

June 2011
WHO Releases Technical Guidance on Substituting Mercury Thermometers and Sphygmomanometers

WHO has issued a Technical Guidance Document for the safe substitution of non-mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers in health-care settings. It identifies available resources that support the equivalent accuracy and comparable clinical utility of thesubstituted products, while protecting health-care workers and the environment. It is designed to support professionals responsible for institutions or ministries desiring to switch to safer non-polluting technologies in health care.

This Guidance, currently available only in English, is designed to meet Short Term Objective #1 of the WHO-HCWH Mercury-Free Health Care Initiative "Identify and/or establish international standards for mercury-free alternative medical devices." download Technical Guidance Document

May 2011
Mercury Elimination Guide for Hospitals in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese

In order to scale-up the replacement of mercury–based medical devices around the world, HCWH has put together a guide that systematizes the basic steps in mercury substitution. Download Guides in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Chinese

May 2011
Argentina: Health Organizations and Professionals Call for Total Mercury Thermometer Ban

Led by Health Care Without Harm, thirteen major health organizations including the Society of Pediatrics, the National Nurses Federation, as well as some of the country's leading hospitals, medical and nursing schools, called on the Minister of Health, Dr. Jorge Manzur, to extend the phase-out of mercury in health care and the ban on blood pressure devices to a ban on the commercialization all mercury thermometers. In a letter to the Minister, the groups called for access to safe alternatives for the general population. Read more

April 2011
Mongolia: National Policy to Ban Mercury Medical Devices

The Ministry of Health and the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia have issued a Joint Order to "ban further procurement of the mercury containing thermometer, sphygmomanometer and dental amalgam, beginning January 15, 2011 and to authorize directors of the corresponding organizations and city and provincial health care departments and managers of all level health care organizations to take measures to reduce the use of mercury containing medical equipment and replace them with mercury-free alternatives." Read Joint Order

April 2011
Chile: Ministry of Health Issues National Guidance for Mercury-free Health Care

With 27 hospitals already substituting mercury-based medical devices as part of the Mercury-Free Hospitals Project, Chile's Ministry of Health has moved toward a national substitution policy. With 60% of the country's hospitals having already signed a pledge to switch over, the Ministry has issued a guidance document to take all 206 of the country's public hospitals mercury-free. The policy requires that all institutions conduct mercury inventories, develop mercury spill management polices, and begin a progressive switch-over to digital thermometers and sphygmomanometers by the end of 2011. Read Policy (in Spanish)

March 2011
Manila 2011 Declaration for Mercury Free Health Care

On March 15, in Manila, Philippines, HCWH, WHO and the UNDP GEF Global Health Care Waste Project co-organized a regional event to support the development of mercury-free health care in Asia. Download Declaration

January 2011
Update on the activities of the WHO-HCWH Global Mercury-free Healthcare Initiative for INC2

WHO and HCWH prepared an update on the activities of the WHO-HCWH Global Mercury-free Healthcare Initiative prepared for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC2) which will be held in Chiba, Japan from 24 to 28 January, 2011.

WHO and HCWH prepared a Two Year Progress Report, Toward the Tipping Point for INC1 in June 2010. This update captures the numerous activities and developments since then. Download update

January 2011
Brazil:  São Paulo and Santa Catarina States Phasing-out Mercury Medical Devices

The Health Secretariat of São Paulo State has banned the purchase of any equipment containing mercury in public hospitals and other health services.  The resolution, issued in December 2010, applies to 50 public hospitals run by the state system, as well as hundreds of smaller health units.  It prohibits the use of all mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers by 2012. It also restricts the use of dental amalgam to pre-dosed capsules. Read Resolution (in Portuguese).

Meanwhile, the Santa Catarina State government has banned mercury thermometers in hospital systems and pharmacies.  The law will go into full effect by August 2011.  Read More (in Portuguese).

January 2011
Asia Regional Conference on Mercury-Free Health Care

The conference will be held in Manila, Philippines, March 15-16, 2011. It is being co-organized by HCWH, WHO and the UNDP GEF Global Healthcare Waste Project. Participants from ministries of health, health care institutions and health professionals are invited to attend. Read more

January 2011
WHO Fosters Solar-powered, Mercury-free Blood Pressure Device for Low-resource Settings

Hypertension, the Journal of the American Heart Association reports on the creation and field testing of this solar-powered, user-friendly, accurate, and inexpensive device for measuring blood pressure.  The device, which does not require observers to be trained in the auscultatory technique, will allow non-physician health workers (who are the backbone of the primary health care system in many developing countries) to participate in the diagnosis and management of hypertension. Read article / Read editorial