Air pollution is a significant environmental problem that affects the health and well-being of individuals and communities around the world. In order to raise awareness of this issue and encourage action to address it, there are several strategies that can be implemented. These include:
a. Education and outreach
b. Advocacy and lobbying
c. Social media awareness
d. Collaboration with...
Burning gasoline and diesel fuel create harmful byproducts like nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide. In 2020, the worldwide transportation sector generated over 7.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, making it one of the worst polluters. As a response to this, electric vehicles (EVs) are fast being adopted since they are emissions-free. According to research, the transportation...
As in northern cities, transport is one of the main causes of air quality degradation in southern cities, especially in West African cities. Very few studies have focused on air quality in these cities, particularly in Ouagadougou. As a result, there is a lack of scientific data to evaluate air quality. The last campaign to monitor pollutants in the city of Ouagadougou was carried out in 2007....
ABSTRACT
The study was set to assess the effect of air quality index on health dynamics in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Epidemiological data was collected from the Federal Ministry of Health and from various State Ministries of Health, in relation to ambient Air Quality data of the States and National Ambient Air Quality Standard data. The study covered a period of ten years, ranging...
Abstract
Most air quality indices in Nigeria are based on satellite data which do not always conform with ground based data. These statistics have also been used by the United Nations, African Development Bank including the World Bank for purposes of planning, policy formulation and to estimate health indices, over Nigeria and Africa at large without subjecting them to ground based...
Particulate Matter (PM2.5) pollution remains a significant air pollution problem in South Africa and worldwide, posing serious human health effects to exposed communities. This study presents an overview of the human health impacts posed by exposure to PM2.5 from Gold Mine Tailings (GMT)in the community of eMbalenhle. PM2.5 concentrations were measured at both the GMT (source) and at the...
Air pollution, particularly in metropolitan areas, is gaining significance in Ghana with concomitant burden of diseases and premature mortality. This study aimed to analyze air pollution data in key metropolitan cities in Ghana focusing on PM2.5. Daily PM2.5 samples were collected from 14 low-cost sensor networks deployed at eight residential, one commercial, three roadside, and two industrial...
As part of the project Pollution de l’Air et Santé dans les milieus Urbains (PASMU), several equipment’s have been installed in order to study atmospheric chemistry (rain, gases and aerosols).
At the installed sites, PM2.5 aerosol samples (aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) were collected on quartz filters and Teflon filters, weekly at one site in Abidjan and another in Korhogo. Analysis...
This study utilized solar irradiance measurements to estimate spectral atmospheric turbidity characteristics using Gueymard’s Multi-coefficient Approach and compared with experimental measurement. The objective was to assess the reproducibility of the approach for estimating atmospheric turbidity from less resource-intensive irradiance measurement during African Monsoon period, and relate...
Air pollution observations are primordial to establishing base knowledge about the conditions of an area. Monitoring networks using Low-Cost Sensors cover localized points, and the collection of representative spatial data becomes a limitation for studying large areas and possible existing relationships due to spatial heterogeneity. The present work attempts to develop indicators of the...
Globally, about a half of households in developing countries rely on solid fuel as a primary fuel for cooking and heating. Burning solid biomass fuel produces emissions like particulate matter, carbon monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrogen carbons which contribute to toxic air pollutants that are harmful to human health. Consequences attributed to Indoor air pollution include: pneumonia,...
Air pollution is a major environmental concern that affects human health worldwide. Despite recent studies indicating ambient air pollution is a growing global concern strongly linked to rapid global urbanization, little has been done to monitor the air quality levels in towns outside Nairobi, Kenya. Juja is one of the largest growing towns subjected to increased population, intense human...
Air pollution is a leading cause of global premature mortality, and is linked to more than 1 million premature deaths in Africa per year. Advancements in low-cost sensors (LCS) are helping bridge the data gap left by historically expensive and technically challenging reference-grade monitors. While novel data science techniques are being used to develop correction factors for LCS, these...
In developing countries, recycling of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has attracted much attention as a significant source of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). E-waste contains hazardous materials such as flame retardants (FRs) that require special handling and recycling methods to avoid environmental contamination and detrimental effects on human health. E-waste dumpsites have...
This study focuses on the characterization of household exposure levels to indoor air pollution in the city of Ouagadougou. The pollutants concerned are carbon monoxide (CO) and particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) emitted by fuel combustion. Thirty (30) households including 10 improved stoves, 10 traditional stoves and 10 gas stoves were selected as the sample for our...
The increase of the Togolese population and in particular that of the city of Lomé in recent decades has led to the creation of peripheral districts such as Agoè-Minamadou (AM). As a result, various activities have been created to meet the needs of the local population. These activities have an impact on human health and on the environment through the production of air pollutants. To measure...
West Africa suffers from poor air quality due to the influence of high local emission sources and transboundary emissions from the rest of Africa. A fine resolution of anthropogenic emissions inventory is a prerequisite for accurate air quality modelling. However, there is a lack of inventories for West African cities. In the framework of Air Pollution and Health in Urban Environments (PASMU)...
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Exhaust emissions from road traffic are considered as major contributors to urban air pollution. Diesel powered vehicle emissions are classified as the main source of traffic emissions that count for a higher emission percentage (40% of total emissions in Kigali) in different cities. In addition to different air pollutants from diesel vehicles’ exhaust that act as precursors...
The ambient ozone over Nyarugenge district in Kigali City varies seasonally, the study analyzes the near surface ambient ozone within a period of three years starting from 2010 to 2012 using openair model (R package) which is an open-source tools for analyzing air pollution data, and correlated with its corresponding meteorological parameters including air temperature, relative humidity, wind...
A significant number of studies have demonstrated the link between agriculture and air pollution. These studies have echoed that in most parts of Africa, the slash-and-burn approaches used for farming are responsible for local and regional air pollution as well as reduced food production. In these environments, however, sporadic air quality monitoring hinders understanding and quantifying the...
Air pollution spikes have been causing harm to human beings and the environment. Most exposure to Air pollution spikes has demonstrated a great impact on mental health, especially for children at an early age. That can lead to suicide or depression. Most existing research has been concentrated on air pollution in general. Existing monitoring systems are based on capturing the pollutants...
A key role of the modeling process is to identify the relationship between the inputs and the target variable(s) (outputs) set to study a given phenomenon and also to predict the outcome of that phenomenon. In the context of machine learning, in addition to the concern about feature selection, there is a second concern about the sample size needed for model design.
However, in the literature...
In urban set-ups, the use of charcoal as a source of energy is predominant among the urban poor (low-income earners). In the urban informal settlements such as the Korogocho slums in Nairobi, households rely on kerosene and charcoal for cooking. In some cases, it has been reported that some poorest households in these informal settlements use plastic waste, cloth rags, and other unconventional...
Air pollution is a major threat to public health. By reducing environmental impacts, countries can reduce the burden of illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic or acute respiratory diseases (such as asthma). This study assessed indoor aerosol exposure in the Akure metropolis (residential, office, commercial area, and laboratories). The profiles of average PM10 and...
In this study, data collected from a seven-wavelength aethalometer was used to investigate the levels and patterns of equivalent black carbon mass concentrations in Kenitra, Morocco, a city in North Africa between mid-July 2020 and mid-February 2021. The average concentration of black carbon (BC) was found to be 0.90 ± 0.80 µg/m3, which is lower than the levels typically seen in African and...
Air pollution is a growing environmental challenge in urban areas globally. Among the affected areas are in Sub Saharan Africa, where outdoor air pollution is responsible for approximately 49,000 deaths annually (World Bank, 2012). In response to this, researchers, civic groups and local governments have embarked on air quality monitoring programmes. Reference grade monitors, which tend to be...
Estimates of air pollution mortality in sub-Saharan Africa are limited by a lack of surface observations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Despite being a large metropolis, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), population 14.3 million, has had little attention towards air quality monitoring. In 2019, a 5-node PurpleAir network was deployed in the city. Calibrated annual average...
BACKGROUND
Addressing the health burden from air pollution exposure in low/middle-income countries requires air quality monitoring. However, many African countries lack the resources for comprehensive monitoring. This study aimed to map air pollution sources in the Cape Coast metropolis, to gain insights into the major sources and inform control policies in the metropolitan area.
METHODS:...
Introduction
Particulate matter (PM2.5) is known to have adverse health effects
on human health and to impact on climate. For human health
concerns the type of involved measuring instruments are expensive
and in the low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), they are
very few thus inhibiting implementation of dedicated studies. Well
calibrated OPCs can offer indicative PM2.5 data...
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are primary air pollutants and ozone and secondary aerosol precursors that are emitted by vehicles, ships, powerplants, industrial processes, and other combustion sources. There is a general lack of ground-based observational data in West African cities, which has limited our understanding of the sources, relationships with human activities, and...
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an urban air pollutant produced by combustion processes and can be detrimental to health and the environment at global and regional scales. However, their impact is still unknown because of the lack of air monitoring, especially in poor countries like West Africa.
The main objective of this work was to assess NO2 air pollution variability in Dakar, Senegal. First, we...
Air pollution is one of the major risk factors for human well-being in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in sub-Saharan Africa. Tackling challenges to improve air quality management is, in part, due to limited monitoring infrastructure. AS a result, the burdens of air pollution are likely to be underestimated because of the limited ground monitoring data in affected regions.
The...
Much of the existing research on school air pollution and children’s exposure has focused on developed countries. The present study examines air pollution in the classroom and outdoor schoolyards. The study investigates air pollution and schoolchildren exposure in a region where air quality is understudied and thus far less understood. The concentrations observed for particulate matter air...
ABSTRACT
Gaseous pollutants and particulate matter are released into the atmosphere at concentrations above their normal ambient level; this is caused by the increasing human activities which eventually have a measurable effect on humans, animals and plants. The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Fine particles (PM2.5) are mainly generated...
Air pollution has become a worldwide concern threatening public health and sustainable developments goals (SDGs). The Global Burden of Diseases GBD 2015 (GBD Risk Factors Collaborators 2016) classified respiratory particles as the fifth risk factor for causing death around the globe. The increase in population, industrial activities, vehicular emission and traffic, growth of construction...
Background: Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been recommended as the best measure of air quality. We assessed the spatio-temporal trends of air quality based on PM2.5 concentrations in Kampala City.
Methods: PM2.5 concentrations generated by 25 Clarity Node Solar-Powered monitors from January 1, 2020–June 30, 2022 were abstracted from the Clarity dashboard. We computed 24-hour...
Populations living in West African capitals are increasingly exposed to fine particles from anthropogenic activities. However, the high cost of reference measurement instruments makes it difficult to conduct studies to routinely assess exposure levels and impacts. Particulate Matter (PM) Low-Cost Sensors are widely used to monitor air quality in regions where no reference monitors are...
In this study, long-term trends over 5 Ghana EPA traffic stations on (25 x 25) km resolution satellite OMI instrument and (50 x 50) km resolution MODIS Terra AOD from 2012 to 2021 were assessed using Mann-Kendall test to ascertain the impact of population growth coupled with increasing sources for the past decade in the GAMA. Further, characterization of Clarity Node-S PM2.5, AOD, NO2, and O3...
High resolution models were used for simulating rainfall in Rwanda. But each model should be evaluated before using its output to assess impact. The ability of Regional climate model (RCM) was evaluated using RegCM4-7 which is driven by the MPI-M-MPI-ESM-LR to simulate rainfall over Rwanda. The model output was compared to observation to simulate rainfall in Rwanda through assessing the model...
Poor air quality is now one of the three main causes of premature morbidity, resulting in nearly 7 million deaths globally in 2022. Moreover, 99% of the world’s population experiences air pollution levels exceeding World Health Organization guidelines, and fatalities in Africa from outdoor air pollution have increased nearly 60% in the last 30 years. Yet, our ability to mitigate poor air...
Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, is characterized by an increasing population and a rising rate of transport facilities. African countries, including Rwanda, are concerned with the air pollution problem. Different pollutants produced by burning wood for cooking and household chores, cookstoves, generators and engines with substandard fuel use and others, could be detected. This study...
Air pollution is currently the second leading health risk factor for deaths in Africa contributing to millions of premature deaths. Major sources of air pollution identified in Africa are vehicular emissions, slash-and-burn agricultural practices, poor waste management practices, wind-blown dust, industrial emissions and dirty energy sources used in fuel-poor homes for cooking and heating. The...
Most developing cities struggle with deteriorating air quality challenges and Nairobi is such a city. This paper explores the state of air quality in Nairobi city drawing from the outcomes of the Nairobi Urban profile and the Vulnerability scoping studies conducted under the A system Approach to air pollution in East Africa project. Using these studies’ outcomes, the paper aims to provide...
