Mozambique: Disposing of Face Masks to Protect People and the Planet

How do you provide care for patients in a way that does not harm the environment? - This is the question Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is trying to solve as the devastating impacts of the climate emergency are increasingly felt across the world. With the health sector responsible for around 5% of carbon emissions worldwide, health providers need to find ways to reduce their environmental impact. This is why MSF launched an initiative to find alternatives to single-use surgical face masks - one of the items most used by MSF medical staff across projects worldwide.

In June 2023, MSF medical teams in Mozambique and Kyrgyzstan started a pilot initiative to replace single-use surgical face masks with washable face masks that can be used up to 40 times.

The objective was to compare the environmental impact of the single-use face mask versus the washable one and to determine whether reusable masks can work logistically in the different settings in MSF works.

A life cycle assessment was carried out in partnership with the Technische Universität Berlin, which assessed the face masks “from cradle to grave”, meaning the material used to create the mask, the transport to the manufacturing facility, the production and packaging of the face mask, as well as transport to the point of use, any eventual reprocessing and the final disposal of the face masks.

This assessment showed that the washable face mask significantly outperformed the single-use one. MSF staff also generally preferred the washable one, saying it was more comfortable to wear.

The experience in Kyrgyzstan and Mozambique showed that it is not only feasible to reduce single-use surgical face masks but that it also has a positive impact on the environment and reduces carbon emissions without compromising the quality of care or safety of patients and medical staff.

The long-term ambition is to replace a significant proportion of single-use masks with more sustainable alternatives across MSF medical projects, and with these results in hand, the next step is to roll out the washable face masks as soon as possible.

A nurse wears a reusable face mask during a patient consultation in northern Mozambique, where climate-sensitive diseases, such as those spread by mosquitoes, are common. Photographer: Lourino Pelembe | Location: Mozambique| Date: 07/05/2024

A nurse wears a reusable face mask during a patient consultation in MSF's cancer screening project in Sokuluk. Photographer: Raushan Kermalieva | Location: Kyrgyzstan |Date: 17/04/2024The reusable face masks can be washed up to 40 times and are much better for the environment than single use face masks. Photographer: Raushan Kermalieva | Location: Kyrgyzstan | Date: 17/04/2024

Nelson Domingos Nuvunga, MSF nurse in Mozambique, says he is encouraging colleagues to use these face masks “because, as health workers, we understand the impacts of climate change very well. But also, I think it’s our duty as human beings to save our planet.”

Every effort counts. Changing just one mask won’t make a difference, but changing many will.

About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.

In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).

In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.

Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.

To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work: