Health-care waste management in Primary Health Care: self-reported practices in a municipality in Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To describe self-reported healthcare waste management practices, knowledge of legislation, and training conditions among primary health care workers. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 56 workers from 13 urban and rural primary health care units in Itapecuru Mirim, Maranhão, Brazil, between July 3 and 10, 2026. A nonvalidated structured questionnaire based on Brazilian Resolution RDC No. 222/2018 and Law No. 12,305/2010 was administered, and responses were analyzed using absolute and relative frequencies. Results: Waste segregation was reported as always performed by 36 (64.3%) participants; 32 (57.1%) reported adequate and signposted temporary storage; and 29 (51.8%) reported internal transport in accordance with safety standards. Only 15 (26.8%) stated that they knew the legislation well, 52 (92.9%) had not received training, 30 (53.6%) reported never participating in continuing education activities related to the topic, eight (14.3%) reported formal recording of waste volume, and 21 (37.5%) selected “always available and used” for the combined item on personal protective equipment. Conclusion: Self-reported segregation practices were more frequent than other management stages and institutional conditions. Gaps in regulatory knowledge, training, records, and self-reported occupational protection conditions indicate local priorities. However, convenience sampling, use of an instrument that had neither been validated nor preliminarily assessed, and self-reporting preclude interpreting the findings as an objective assessment of unit compliance.