Global Trends in Medical Waste Management and Predictive Modeling of Water Quality Contamination
A Hybrid Approach Using Scimat and Neural Networks in Orange
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59680/ishel.v3i1.2258Keywords:
Bibliometric Analysis, Environmental Health, Medical Waste Management, Neural Network Modeling, Water Quality ContaminationAbstract
The rapid growth of healthcare services has significantly increased the generation of medical waste, posing serious risks to environmental and public health, particularly through water quality contamination. This study examines global trends in medical waste management and proposes a hybrid analytical framework combining bibliometric analysis using SCIMAT and predictive modeling based on artificial neural networks implemented in Orange. Bibliometric mapping was employed to identify dominant research themes, temporal evolution, and knowledge gaps in medical waste and water contamination studies from 2000 to 2023. Subsequently, a neural network model was developed to predict potential water quality deterioration associated with mismanaged medical waste, using simulated environmental indicators. The results reveal a strong research focus on incineration, infection control, and hazardous waste, while predictive modeling of water contamination remains underexplored. The proposed hybrid approach demonstrates high predictive accuracy and offers a robust decision-support tool for environmental health policy. This study contributes methodologically and substantively to sustainable medical waste management and water resource protection.
References
Aung, T. S., Luan, S., & Xu, Q. (2019). Application of multi-criteria decision approach for the analysis of medical waste management systems in developing countries. Waste Management, 90, 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.04.042
aus der Beek, T., Weber, F. A., Bergmann, A., Hickmann, S., Ebert, I., Hein, A., & Küster, A. (2016). Pharmaceuticals in the environment—Global occurrences and perspectives. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 35(4), 823–835. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.3339
Chartier, Y., Emmanuel, J., Pieper, U., Prüss, A., Rushbrook, P., Stringer, R., Townend, W., Wilburn, S., & Zghondi, R. (2014). Safe management of wastes from health-care activities (2nd ed.). World Health Organization.
Cobo, M. J., López-Herrera, A. G., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Herrera, F. (2012). SCIMAT: A new science mapping analysis software tool. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(8), 1609–1630. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22688
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
El Bilali, A., Taleb, A., & Brouziyne, Y. (2021). Prediction of water quality parameters using artificial neural networks. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193, Article 531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09021-3
El-Salam, M. M. A., & Abu-Zuid, G. I. (2015). Impact of hospital waste on the environment and public health. Journal of Environmental Health, 77(10), 20–26.
Kaza, S., Yao, L., Bhada-Tata, P., & Van Woerden, F. (2018). What a waste 2.0: A global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050. World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1329-0
Klemeš, J. J., Fan, Y. V., Tan, R. R., & Jiang, P. (2020). Minimising the present and future plastic waste, energy and environmental footprints related to COVID-19. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 127, 109883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.109883
Manupati, V. K., Schoenherr, T., Ramkumar, M., Wagner, S. M., & Pabba, S. K. (2021). A framework for sustainable healthcare waste management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 294, 126228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126228
Moral-Muñoz, J. A., Arroyo-Morales, M., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Cobo, M. J. (2020). An overview of thematic evolution in environmental sciences using SCIMAT. Sustainability, 12(5), 1930. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051930
Moral-Muñoz, J. A., Herrera-Viedma, E., Santisteban-Espejo, A., & Cobo, M. J. (2014). Software tools for conducting bibliometric analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 8(2), 330–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2014.01.002
Nourani, V., Elkiran, G., & Abdullahi, J. (2018). Multi-station artificial neural network modeling of water quality variables. Environmental Modelling & Software, 102, 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.12.016
Peng, J., Liu, Y., Song, H., Zhang, X., & Chen, Y. (2022). Environmental risks of medical waste during pandemics: Water pollution perspectives. Science of the Total Environment, 806, 150578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150578
Prüss, A., Giroult, E., & Rushbrook, P. (1999). Safe management of wastes from health-care activities. World Health Organization.
Singh, K. P., Basant, N., Malik, A., & Jain, G. (2021). Artificial intelligence techniques for modeling water quality. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 193, Article 254.
United Nations. (2023). Sustainable healthcare waste management and environmental protection. United Nations Publications.
Windfeld, E. S., & Brooks, M. S. (2015). Medical waste management—A review. Journal of Environmental Management, 163, 98–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.08.013
World Bank. (2018). Healthcare waste management: Issues and solutions. World Bank Group.
World Health Organization. (2018). Health-care waste. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2020). Water, sanitation, hygiene and waste management for SARS-CoV-2. World Health Organization.
Zhang, Y., Ma, Y., Yang, J., & Wang, X. (2021). Machine learning methods for water quality prediction: A review. Ecological Indicators, 124, 107428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107428
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The International Science of Health Journal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.














