Observations on environmental problems in West Africa (a viewpoint)

Abstract

There is a dearth of information in West Africa on trace element contents in soils and plants and the associated diseases. Here, the population is mostly rural, relatively stable and close to the earth, hence endemic diseases resulting from anomalously high or low trace element concentration in soils may assume an important health problem. Grinding stones are traditional utensils used in most parts of Africa, but no one knows what effect, if any, contaminations from trace elements of the rocks have on the health of rural population in West Africa. A significant amount of sediment pollution in West Africa comes from soils piled on road shoulders along major highways and city roads. Before the materials are used most of it is washed into rivers, and in cities and towns they clog up the open sewer systems and make them breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies. The West African environmental health problems are, to a great extent, sanitary problems.