Air pollution has declined in northern sub-Saharan Africa: study

Air quality in Africa’s fast-growing sub-Saharan region has improved over the past fifteen years, reversing the trend, according to a study by scientists at Cardiff University in the UK. typical trend of the soaring pollution that accompanies rapid development.

Intentionally started bushfires in the northern region of sub-Saharan Africa, a major cause of air pollution, have declined by nearly five percent, according to the study.

Scientists tracked nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) between 2005 and 2017, and estimated that fewer wildfires are due to socio-economic development.

“Higher levels of economic productivity are associated with reduced NO ₂ concentrations, suggesting that socio-economic development in this region translates into clear improvements in air quality, ”according to the study, which examined satellite data.

Normally, when economies grow, air pollution increases. But this study shows the opposite.

Burning of fossil fuels has nearly doubled on the African continent since 2000, according to the study, but bush burning, or biomass burning, has declined, making a major difference to air quality.

“Our results suggest that countries in the Nordic region of biomass burning in Africa follow a different path during the fire season, resulting in potential benefits for air quality,” according to the study.

“However, these benefits can be lost with the increased use of fossil fuels and are absent during the rainy season,” he added.

Health hazards of air pollution

Another study published last year shows that 236,000 infants died from air pollution in their first month of life across the sub-Saharan Africa region in 2019.

Nearly two-thirds of those deaths were due to babies inhaling harmful kitchen fumes, according to the State of Global Air 2020.

Fine-particle outdoor air pollution has actually decreased in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Egypt, while it has increased by 12% in Nigeria.

The World Health Organization says that if air pollution decreases, “countries can reduce the burden of diseases caused by stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory disease, including asthma ”.

Covid-19 and air pollution

Air pollution in South Africa has fallen by almost half nationwide during the country’s six-week lockdown at the end of March last year, according to South African and UK scientists at the Council for scientific and industrial research (CSIR).

The team, led by Rebecca Garland, said the better air quality was due to the lack of traffic jams, the shutdown of heavy industry and the reduction in emissions from coal-fired power plants.