Toxic air keeps Athi River residents on edge

When the problem could not go away, Charity the decided to consult a paediatrician. The doctor diagnosed the girl with broncho-pneumonia.

Within three weeks, she was admitted twice. The illness just wasn't going away. "More tests showed that she still had pneumonia. On the second admission, I was told about 70 per cent of her lungs were clocked with mucus," she recalls.

The little girl was scheduled for manual evacuation of the lungs - twice every day. She was also put on strong antibiotics, and stayed in hospital from March 8 to March 18.

But two days later, Charity was back at the same hospital with her youngest baby, just a few months old, who had similar symptoms.

One of the things that Charity would quickly learn about her new home area was a regular attack by a putrid smell.

"The smell often came alive at night. The very first time I smelled it I thought it was something in the house - like a leaky gas cylinder. I went out of the house to check for fresh air. I realised the smell was everywhere."

Upon inquiry from neighbours who had been living in the estate before her, Charity was told about a long-drawn battle between Great Wall Gardens and a manufacturing company nearby, which the residents accuse of discharging toxic effluents.

Dr Warurua Mugo, a paediatrician who handled Charity's daughter, says air pollution causes inflammations in the respiratory system, making the affected area susceptible to infections.

"Therefore children - and adults too - who live in an environment with high air pollution have higher risk of developing respiratory infections such as pneumonia," he cautions.

Asthma attack

A few kilometres from Great Wall Gardens in Sabaki, Jennifer Mbuvi lives in a house she moved into in 2012. Since then, she has had surgery to remove pterygiums - fleshy overgrowths of the conjunctiva of the eye.

"They include illnesses like lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)," he says.

Dr Andrew Owuor of the Kenyatta National Hospital is not shocked about the story of Charity and Jennifer.

"That's how pollution affects the respiratory system. To be sure, actual disease is caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria.

"What the pollution does is that it causes inflammation, which then make the respiratory tract exposed to the pathogens," he says.

According to 2023 health records, 27.4 per cent of cases treated at the Athi River Level Four Hospital were on respiratory tract illnesses, compared to 25.6 per cent nationally.

[This story was produced as part of Internews' Earth Journalism Network's 2024 Reporting Fellowship]