A/HRC/18/31 environmentally sound management of health-care waste and the development of national waste management plans, policies and guidelines to facilitate its implementation. 79. In most developing countries and economies in transition, the lack of adequate technical resources for the safe and sound management of health-care waste, the limited funding for health-care waste management and the inadequate awareness of the direct and indirect risks posed by health-care waste constitute the main obstacles to the development of a comprehensive regulatory framework on health-care waste management and to its effective implementation. V. Conclusions and recommendations 80. The Special Rapporteur is of the view that time is ripe to give to the impact that the improper management and disposal of medical waste continue to have on the enjoyment of human rights the attention it deserves. He therefore calls on all relevant stakeholders, including States, international organizations and mechanisms, the donor community, public and private health-care facilities, the pharmaceutical industry and civil society to strengthen their efforts to achieve safe and sustainable management of medical waste. 81. The establishment of a safe and sustainable health-care waste management system requires the adoption of a number of legislative, administrative, policy and educational measures. In order to assist the international community in identifying and prioritizing its action in the field of health-care waste management and disposal, the Special Rapporteur recommends the adoption of the measures below. A. Awareness-raising 82.The lack of comprehensive information on the risks that hazardous medical waste pose to human health and the environment has hampered the efforts made to date at the national level to protect individuals and communities from the adverse impact of toxic and dangerous health-care waste on their human rights, including the right to life, the right to health and the right to a safe environment. He therefore recommends that States take all appropriate measures to raise awareness of the problems, especially among policymakers and communities living in the vicinity of sites where medical waste is incinerated or landfilled. Non-governmental organizations working in the field of public health or environmental protection should include the promotion of sound health-care waste management in their advocacy and conduct programmes and activities that contribute to sound health-care waste management. 83. In some cases, a healthy lifestyle represents the most efficient way to avoid medical treatment and the waste it generates as a by-product. Access to adequate health-related education and information is, in the Special Rapporteur’s view, an essential precondition for the enjoyment of the right to adequate health. He therefore calls on States to disseminate appropriate information relating to healthy lifestyles, nutrition and the state of the environment so that people may make informed choices about their health. B. National legislation and policy on health-care waste management 84. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States that have not yet adopted a specific law on health-care waste management to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of improper management and disposal of hazardous medical waste consider doing so. Such a law may have a stand-alone nature or be part of more comprehensive legislation on hazardous waste management. Relevant international and regional agreements, human rights standards and relevant 18