Description
Key note speaker at the International Conference on Air Quality in Africa (ICAQ) 2022.Air pollution is the dominant global environmental factor of ill health, and annually 8.9 million people die of exposure to airborne particles smaller than 2.5 μm. The quest for cleaner air has expanded from Europe and North America to Asia and South America. Africa, however, is still been left behind even though existing challenges such as rapid urbanization, population growth, extensive use of solid biofuels for cooking and heating, an old vehicle fleet, and absence of waste handling infrastructure. Among sub-Saharan Africa’s 47 countries, only 6 (a total of 16 cities) can provide long-term data on air pollution. Indoor emission inventories, if existing, are typically based on surveys of e.g. fuel consumption. In general, Africa faces other pressing social, economic, and health-related problems, which is likely causing the lack of focus on air pollution mitigation.
A first step would be to increase the amount and quality of indoor and outdoor air pollution measurements, thereby increasing public concern, without which there will be no policy actions, and without policies to follow, few incentives exist to collect data. Air pollution monitoring, enabled by capacity building, could break this negative feedback loop and generate a demand for mitigation strategies, as has been seen in Europe, North America, and more recently, China.
I address the challenges and potential solutions of indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure assessments in low-income countries. I also address the need for mutual knowledge transfer and capacity building when it comes to air pollution assessment and policymaking.
| Period | 2022 Oct 11 → 2022 Oct 14 |
|---|---|
| Event title | International Conference on Air Quality in Africa ICAQ’Africa 2022 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Degree of Recognition | International |