Alarm over rising deaths linked to hazardous air pollution

Nema Board Member  Loice Kipkiror during plenary session at the Pan Africa conference.

There were over 26,000 deaths in the country last year attributed to hazardous air pollution, the Kenya Medical Research Institute has revealed.

The institute warns that the number will rise without interventions.

In fact, the statistics shared by the institute during Pan-African Conference on Environment, Climate Change and Health: Science to policy shows that the figures are rising.

In 2016, 16,000 deaths were attributed to hazardous air pollution.

This climbed to 21,000 deaths in 2019.

Kemri research officer Gohole Arthur said over 90 per cent of schools and 76 per cent of households rely on polluting fuels.

Arthur said 11.5 million tonnes of wood are harvested annually for schools and household kitchens.

"This results to an equivalent of 20.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere contributing to increased atmospheric warming high levels of two health damaging household pollutants," Arthur said adding that pollution levels were three times those set by WHO.

The Pan-African Conference is Africa’s first integrated platform uniting health, climate and environment leaders to align evidence and policy action in response to the continent’s interconnected crises.

Arthur was one of the panelists during a plenary titled 'healthy environments for population health'.

Other panelists included Pushpam Kumar from UNEP, National Environment Management Authority board members Loice Kipkiror and Amos Andama.

Arthur said there is need for the strengthening of national air quality monitoring and data collection, the acceleration of the transition to clean household energy technologies.

He said there is a need for increased policy and funding prioritisation for hazardous air pollution interventions and the building of local capacity and foster international collaboration.

He said they have in place some of the initiatives through its first of its kind air pollution Centre of Excellence.

Experts have been trained in the centre which is a Sub-Saharan African Centre of Excellence in air pollution monitoring, prevention and health.

The areas of research they are working on include health impacts of indoor air pollutants on vulnerable populations such as children, elderly and individuals with respiratory conditions.

They are also working on effective ventilation strategies among others, he said.

Arthur said they are also working on a nationwide baseline study on levels of indoor air pollution, stoves usage and health-related outcomes in Kenyan kitchen settings.

He said a baseline surveys and kitchen performance test among households using firewood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking in Kenya is completed.

The institute has completed a study that is exploring the potential benefits of cooking with LPG on the environment, time, costs and health in informal settlement schools, in Kenya.

Arthur said the evaluation of energy-efficient pots for household cooking in Kenya has been completed.

He said Sh16 billion is needed to implement Kenya Household Air Pollution Prevention Strategy 2024-2029.

Arthur cited some of the challenges to include limiting equipment that has lead to restricted ability to collect comprehensive air quality data and support academic research.

“There is limited capacity to conduct air quality training across counties leading to knowledge gaps among environmental health practitioners and funding challenges leading to limited progress in expanding monitoring networks and training programmes,” he said.

Only 2,350 out of 130,000 community health promoters have been trained on hazardous air pollution, a 1.8 per cent coverage, he said.

Kipkiror said Nema has been undertaking Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) on a number of projects.

Despite ESIA bringing many benefits, effectiveness in Kenya depends on quality and follow-through, she said.

 An ESIA is a study that examines a project's potential positive and negative impacts on the environment and society before it begins.

Nema is the principal government body in Kenya responsible for managing environmental issues.

Kipkiror said with approval, the mitigation measures may not always be properly implemented or monitored; a move that makes health benefits fail to materialise.

She said sometimes health impacts are given less emphasis than purely environmental ones.

Kipkiror said meaningful public participation is required, but if communities are inadequately engaged then social/health concerns may be missed.

“For maximum good, quality of assessment, implementation of mitigation, project monitoring and strong collaboration with other sectors including health is key,” she said.

Kipkiror underscored the need for environmental experts to critically examine Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) reports as key indicators of the state of the environment.

In Kenya the ESIA process is a legal requirement for many development projects, administered by Nema and must be adhered to.

Andama said Nema will soon embark on testing motor vehicle that are polluting the environment, adding that the authority has decentralised its services.

He said the authority has leveraged on technologies, a move that has seen it win a number of awards in the sector.

Andama emphasised that “we only have one planet, and we must take care of the environment for both current and future generations.”