Framing Air Pollution As A Major Health Risk
In Lagos, Nigeria
Author(s)
A. O. Olowoporoku, J. W. S. Longhurst & J. H. Barnes
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the emergent public health risks attributable
to air pollution in Lagos and solutions to reduce them. Growing evidence has
substantiated a causal relationship between air pollution and mortality, hospital
admissions for respiratory or cardiovascular disease and an associated increased
risk of myocardial infarction. Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria with a
population of 15 million has been identified as one of the fastest growing
megacities with annual mean concentrations many times higher than the
thresholds recommended by the WHO. Given the urban conglomeration of
Lagos, this paper shows that differential traffic density, socio-economic
conditions, access to healthcare and proximity to sources of emissions create
differential susceptibility of communities to ill health attributable to air pollution,
especially within vulnerable groups including children, the elderly and pregnant
women. The paper therefore argues that an understanding of the scale and spatial
variation of air pollution is not sufficient for reducing the risks posed to public
health. An effects-based approach needs to be adopted in order to frame air
pollution problems in the city within a public health context, rather than as an
environmental nuisance.
Keywords: Lagos, Nigeria, public health, air pollution, traffic-related emissions.
1 Lagos: population and pollution
Lagos is a port city located in the south-western region of Nigeria (Figure 1). It
was the capital of Nigeria from 1914 to 1991. Since the mid-1970s, urban
landscape development in Lagos has been characterised by the rapid growth of
residential and business settlements around busy and often congested road
Keywords
Lagos, Nigeria, public health, air pollution, traffic-related emissions.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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