Poor air quality silently killing thousands in Africa

Most of the African cities are choking under alarmingly high air pollution levels, with much of the pollutants being gases that have negative impacts on human health and ecosystems.

The gases are produced from energy, industry and agriculture sectors and include carbon dioxide, black matter, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides.

This was revealed by Dr Pallavi Pant, head of global initiatives at Health Effects Institute. She spoke during her presentation on the first day of the third edition of the three-day Clean Air Forum, which started yesterday in Nairobi.

Themed, Partnerships for Air Quality Solutions, the forum brought together researchers in air quality, government officials and decision makers, communities and other practitioners to discuss air quality.

According to Dr Pant, household air pollution (HAP) remains a persistent challenge, with more than 700,000 deaths annually. “Air pollution’s burden of disease is not borne equally across countries or age groups. The health burden is the largest for the youngest and the oldest,” said Dr Pant.

Good thing, she said, is that scientific evidence is rapidly increasing as air quality management strategies are being adopted by governments and cities.

On the way forward, she said the cost of inaction is high, and as the continent with the youngest population in the world, targeted and systematic action to improve air quality can bring large public health dividends.

“A collaborative approach can help accelerate progress and foster action towards Agenda 2063. Local data, engagement and leadership are critical for progress towards clean air,” said Dr Pant. There were calls for collaborations between countries, cities, national government agencies or authorities, and development partners to solve the issue of air pollution.

According to Dr Alice Kaudia, Kenya’s first Environment Secretary and chairperson of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the African Union Commission in August 2024 came up with the Africa Clean Air Programme (ACAP), which has five key pillars.

They include strengthening the Air Quality Data Management System (AQDMS) at the national and regional levels, research, development and capacity strengthening, and strengthening the air quality policy and legal framework. Others are to promote and enhance information, education and communication to increase public awareness on air quality and health in Africa, and finally monitoring, evaluation and learning framework for ACAP.

These pillars, she said, aim to address air pollution and climate change in Africa by promoting regional cooperation and aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063.

According to the Country Director at the World Resource Institute (WRI), George Mwaniki, part of the forum organisers, more African countries need to do more on air quality and especially on the implementation of existing regulations.

“And why air pollution is important in this part of the continent, if you look at most reports that look at air pollution in Africa, very few countries are doing anything about it,” said Mwaniki.

“In 2019, when we did the first report, I think only two or three countries actually had air quality regulations in Africa. But by 2025, I think that number has increased to around 15, and Kenya is included, which is very good. Even in 2019, they had an Air Quality Act, but the implementation was still lagging.”

The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has the Environmental Management and Coordination (Air Quality) Regulations, 2024, which aim to prevent, control and abate air pollution to ensure clean and healthy air.

He said the forum is important because it will be looking at how WRI, which is part of the organisation of the forum,  works with government, communities, business people, development partners and researchers to address the issue of air pollution in African cities and also how African cities can learn from each other.

Mwaniki said transport and solid waste, especially from hospitals, through open landfill burning, are the biggest polluters of the air in Nairobi.

“In transport in Kenya, two and three-wheelers are some of the biggest polluters in our cities, and this is also replicated in Uganda and Rwanda,” he said.

He called for addressing vehicle emissions, saying it’s very likely to see a vehicle that was made in the 1980s still on the road. “If you’re driving behind it or walking behind it, it emits some very serious black soot. So we have to think about how we also support vehicle owners to do that transition,” he said.

“We also have to think about fuel. I am glad that two weeks ago, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) announced that they’re going to improve the fuel quality in Kenya. Initially, it was 50 ppm for sulfur, but now they’ve pushed that to 10pmm, which is cleaner fuel, which means the country now is ready to shift to cleaner vehicles.”

He said right now the average vehicle in Kenya is probably a Euro 2, meaning it’s relatively dirty, but if the country is able to push that to Euro 5 or 6, it would be a great way forward.

“I know there are plans to shift the vehicles to a minimum of Euro 4 as we move ahead. The Southern Africa region is already ahead of us at Euro 6, and we also need to see how we don’t lag in terms of transport,” he said, lauding Nairobi County for coming up with regulations on air quality.

Prof Baino Mugisha, director of AirQ and part of the forum organisers, said they have installed low-cost air quality monitoring stations in Kampala and Nairobi, and now there is air quality data available on the AirQ app.

A look at the app today on his phone showed Umoja in the Eastlands has a high level of air pollution at 88 micrograms per cubic meter.

He called for an increase in data availability, monitoring and the air quality policy makers to move from data to now actions and collaboration since pollution is influenced by other meteorological factors.

Prof Mugisha said the lack of funding for the local manufacturing of air monitoring sensors is affecting their efforts to ensure air quality.

Speaking at the event, Nairobi County chief officer for environment Geoffrey Mosiria said so far, the county has installed 57 air quality monitoring stations in the city and welcomed the forum.

“This forum serves as a vital platform to exchange knowledge, showcase innovative solutions and foster collaboration that drives meaningful change. The significance of our collective efforts cannot be overstated, especially as we face increasing challenges related to air pollution in urban centres and vulnerable regions worldwide,” said Mosiria.

Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathew Owili called upon cities and policymakers to put mechanisms in place to ensure that Kenyans have access to clean air.