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Particulate matter pollution in African cities

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Abstract

Rapid urban population growth, air pollution emissions, and changing patterns of disease in African cities may increase the burden of air pollution-related morbidity and mortality in coming decades. Yet, air monitoring is limited across the continent and many countries lack air quality standards. This paper focuses on particulate matter (PM) pollution, one of the most relevant and widely used indicators of urban air quality. We provide an overview of published PM monitoring studies in Africa, outline major themes, point out data gaps, and discuss strategies for addressing particulate air pollution in rapidly growing African cities. Our review reveals that, although few studies have reported annual mean levels of coarse and fine particles, collective evidence from short- and long-term air monitoring studies across urban Africa demonstrates that pollution levels often exceed international guidelines. Furthermore, pollution levels may be rising as a result of increased motor vehicle traffic building on already high background concentrations of PM in many locations due to climatic and geographic conditions. Biomass burning and industrial activities, often located in cities, further exacerbate levels of PM. Despite the health risks this situation presents, air quality programs, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, have been stalled or discontinued in recent years. Implementation of systematic PM data collection would enable air pollution-related health impact assessments, the development of strategies to reduce the air pollution health burden, and facilitate urban planning and transportation policy as it relates to air quality and health.

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Notes

  1. Paper uses a different classification and refers to all studied regions as “southern Africa”; according to the UN classification employed for this study, two of the countries (Mozambique and Zambia) are located in Eastern Africa.

  2. Morocco, Tunisia, Libya , Egypt, and Sudan, all in the Northern African UN subregion, are in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this work has been provided by the Earth Institute at Columbia University. We thank Dr. Dieter Schwela at the Stockholm Environment Institute for providing valuable feedback on an early draft of this paper. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th St, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Elisaveta P. Petkova, Darby W. Jack & Patrick L. Kinney

  2. Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Earth Institute, Columbia University, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 520, New York, NY, 10115, USA

    Nicole H. Volavka-Close

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  1. Elisaveta P. Petkova
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Correspondence to Elisaveta P. Petkova.

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Petkova, E.P., Jack, D.W., Volavka-Close, N.H. et al. Particulate matter pollution in African cities. Air Qual Atmos Health 6, 603–614 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-013-0199-6

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