Mercury Free Healthcare

The Initiative

Health Care Without Harm and the World Health Organization are co-leading a global initiative to achieve virtual elimination of mercury-based thermometers and sphygmomanometers over the next decade and their substitution with accurate, economically viable alternatives.

The initiative is a component of the UN Environment Programme's Mercury Products Partnership.

Mercury-Free Hospital in India (video produced by Toxics Link)

Click on the image to play the video (available in our Library).

News and Events

June 2010 Mercury-Free Health Care Two-Year Progress Report WHO and HCWH have issued a two-year progress report on the global Mercury-Free Health Care Initiative. Entitled Toward the Tipping Point: WHO-HCWH Global Initiative to Substitute Mercury-Based Medical Devices in Health Care, the report documents the progress of dozens of countries from around the world moving toward mercury-free health care. >> Read Document

May 20, 2010 World Health Organization Issues Document for Mercury Treaty Negotiations Information from WHO on mercury in health care, related WHO activities, resources and risk assessment methodologies in preparation for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on mercury. >> Read Document

May 3, 2010 - India India: Central Government Issues Guidelines For Government-run Hospitals to Phase-out Mercury The Directorate General of Health Services of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has advised all Central Government Hospitals and Health Centers "to gradually phase out mercury containing equipments (thermometer, BP Instruments etc.) and replace them with good quality non mercury equipments." These guidelines affect approximately 1669 hospitals and 174,000 subcentres and primary health centres. >> Read more

February 25, 2010 - Argentina and Philippines Argentina and Philippines Make Major Strides Toward Mercury-Free Health Care Announcing significant policy initiatives, each country has redoubled their efforts to phase-out mercury-based medical devices. Argentina has banned the import and commercialization of mercury blood pressure devices, and the Philippines is calling for a ban on the import of all mercury-based medical devices. >> Read more

February 3, 2010 -Philippines Philippine Mercury Phase-Out Becomes Electoral Issue Adding to the list that various groups have laid out before presidential candidates and their parties, Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia challenges them to “make green health care part of their agenda”, and all voters to support “green health candidates.” Its main thrust is for the implementation of the Department of Health’s Administrative Order (DoH-AO) 21 mandating the gradual phase-out of mercury in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions. >> Read more

December 2009 - China Workshop for Promoting Mercury-Free Healthcare Held in Beijing Mercury-free founding member Global Village of Beijing held a workshop for Promoting Mercury-Free Healthcare attended by WHO, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ministry of Health, as well as several hospitals and medical device manufacturers. >> Read more

October 2009 - Brazil Hospitals of SÃO PAULO Health Public Network replace mercury devices The City of São Paulo is the first in Brazil to eliminate the use of devices containing mercury in its public hospitals. To date thirty four public hospitals/emergency rooms and eighty five primary health care centers have been recognized for their elimination of mercury devices. This adds to the more than 100 private hospitals in Sao Paulo that have already made the switch. >> Read more

October 2009 - Europe EU Report: Mercury Blood Pressure Devices Not Necessary in Clinical Settings. A new European Union report confirms that mercury sphygmomanometers are not necessary in routine clinical practice. The report also finds that mercury-based sphygmomanometers are "not essential" for calibration, but rather only temporarily for validation and ongoing epidemiological studies. In this sense, environmental and Health NGOs call for a rapid process to phase out of mercurycontaining blood pressure devices in healthcare. >> Read the report >> Read the letter to the European Comissioner

Mexico City - October 2009
	The Health Secretariat of Mexico City —which oversees a health care system of more than 28 major hospitals and hundreds of health centers— has joined the HCWH-WHO Global Initiative to substitute mercury-based medical devices with safer, economically viable alternatives. Mexico is the third mega-city, after Buenos Aires and New Delhi commit to mercury-free health care. >> More Information (in Spanish) >> Read Regional Press Release (in Spanish) >> Read the Letter from the Secretary of Health (in Spanish)

	Philippines Health Care—One Year into Mercury Phase-out. General Santos City –Health Care Without Harm, the World Health Organization and the Philippines Department of Health are organizing a month-long series of activities to highlight Administrative Order 21 (AO21) that mandates all Philippine Health Care Facilities and Institutions to phase-out mercury containing devices such as mercury thermometer and sphygmomanometer. It has been a year since the Department of Health (DoH) issued Administrative Order (AO) 21 mandating the two-year phase-out of all mercury-containing devices in all Philippine hospitals by September 2010. For a list of activities click below. Download List of Activities

The Issue

Mercury, one of the world's most ubiquitous heavy metal neurotoxicants, has been an integral part of many medical devices, most prominently thermometers and sphygmomanometers.

These devices break or leak with regularity, adding to the global burden of mercury in the environment and exposing health care workers to the acute effects of the metal itself.

The health care sector around the world is moving to replace mercury-based medical devices with affordable, accurate and safer alternatives.