Air Pollution and Childhood Respiratory Health in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is projected to become the world’s third most populous country by 2050. It has an oil-based economy and is a major emitter of green house gases from gas flaring. It is close to the Sahara desert, a major contributor to global dust. Nigeria has the third highest infant mortality rate in the world with about 20% caused by respiratory tracts infections. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated decline of air pollution levels and improved respiratory health in children in developed countries. A literature search was conducted on Google Scholar to explore the extent to which cumulative exposure contributes to childhood respiratory health in Nigeria. The search was carried out on 28 March 2018 and limited to articles that were published in English Language since 2008. Additionally, the reference lists of relevant articles were manually checked. One hundred and twenty-five (125) full papers were assessed and 10 studies that measure exposure and respiratory health outcomes in children reviewed. The studies were mainly cross-sectional with varied exposure assessment methods. Reliable health data was lacking, recall method was used to collect information. Ambient or indoor air monitoring for PM, CO, SO2, NO2 was done with portable monitors over a short period. In our earlier reported survey of 1397 children aged 7-14 years from low socio-economic schools in Warri (Mustapha et al, 2011), almost all the children (99.3%; 95% CI 98.8-99.7%) reported some form of school or home pollution from traffic fumes or open bush burning or cooking smoke (non-industrial) and gas flaring (industrial) at school or home. About two-third agreed that breathing clean air in various microenvironments prevents respiratory illness. Global health improvements require more interests in impact of air pollution on Nigerian population health. Further research is needed on how personal exposure related to the varied microenvironments contributes to the respiratory health of children in this region.