A/HRC/18/31 care waste,26 a policy document to facilitate the elaboration of a national plan of action on health-care waste management,27 as well as specific guidelines for the safe management of particular categories of medical waste, such as solid health-care waste,28 syringes29 and mercury-containing equipment.30 74. WHO has elaborated a number of information tools to raise public awareness of the risks associated with the unsound management and disposal of hazardous medical waste and on the measures to eliminate or mitigate these risks, including fact sheets on health-care waste management,31 wastes from health-care activities32 and injection safety.33 D. International Atomic Energy Agency 75. An important part of the mandate entrusted to IAEA is to elaborate and promote advisory international standards and guidelines on nuclear safety, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, the transport of radioactive materials, the safety of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and quality assurance. 76. IAEA safety standards provide a system of fundamental principles, requirements and guides for ensuring safety. They reflect an international consensus on what constitutes a high level of safety for protecting people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation. A number of safety standards and requirements, such as the Fundamental Safety Principles (2006) and the International Basic Safety Standards for Protection against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources (1996), are applicable to all facilities and activities generating radioactive waste. Others, such as the safety guides on the decommissioning of medical, industrial and research facilities (1999) and on the management of waste from the use of radioactive material in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and education (2005), refer to specific activities carried out by nuclear medicine departments in hospitals and research centres. 77. Additionally, IAEA has issued several technical reports that aim to supplement the information offered in safety standards and guides, some of which relate specifically to radioactive medical waste. They include the reports on the management of radioactive waste from the use of radionuclides in medicine (2000) and on the decommissioning of small medical, industrial and research facilities (2003). E. National legislation 78. Only a limited number of countries has developed, or is in the process of developing, a national regulatory framework to respond to the challenges that the management and disposal of hazardous health-care waste pose to human health and the environment. These initiatives include the adoption of specific legislation on the safe and 26 World Health Organization, Safe management of wastes from health-care activities (Geneva, 1999). World Health Organization, Health-care waste management: guidance for the development and implementation of a national action plan, policy paper (Geneva, 2005). 28 World Health Organization, Management of solid health-care waste at primary health-care centres: a decision-making guide (Geneva, 2005). 29 World Health Organization, Management of waste from injection activities at district level: guidelines for district health managers (Geneva, 2006). 30 World Health Organization, Replacement of mercury thermometers (see footnote 14). 31 World Health Organization, Health-care waste management (see footnote 12). 32 World Health Organization, WHO core principles (see footnote 8). 33 World Health Organization, Injection safety, fact sheet No. 231, 2006. 27 17