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Air Pollution Related to Traffic and Chronic Respiratory Diseases (Asthma and COPD) in Africa

Air pollution is an important environmental risk factor with global public health implications. Chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) are obvious effects of air pollution and the third reason of death in developing countries. In Africa, air pollution from road traffic is one of the main causes of poor air quality. In this review, the authors aimed to present the state of knowledge in Africa on the impact of external air pollution, particularly related to traffic, on chronic respiratory diseases and to propose strategies to fight this pollution.

In the review, the authors set out to systematically review existing published researches on traffic related to air pollution and CRD, particularly asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Africa. And a literature search of PubMed, Scholar and LISSA databases, published journals, reference articles, published up to 31 December 2016, had been done by using a research strategy procedure. Texts were reviewed for inclusion. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: 1) the relationship between asthma or COPD with ambient air pollution related to road traffic was studied and 2) the population included people from Africa or lived in Africa. Articles written in English and French were included.

The results indicated that fifty-five articles were selected in this review, of which twenty-seven were on air pollution and CRD in Africa. The proximity of the residence or workplace to the traffic is associated with an increased risk of asthma with a dose-response relationship. The estimated prevalence of COPD varies between 2.7% and 38.5%. 

In conclusion, little research has been done on the effects of air pollution from cars on respiratory health in contrast to indoor air pollution, in particular that related to the combustion of biomass. Strategies to reduce traffic related to air pollution in African cities have been proposed in order to have a healthier ambient air.

Article by Fatou K. Sylla, et al, from Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal.

Full access: http://mrw.so/1zgy2q

Image by tokyofortwo, from Flickr-cc.

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