Diseases like Ebola, HIV, and malaria rightly get
a lot of a headlines, because they can kill millions of people very quickly.
But there's another problem that affects even more people, and it's not
mentioned as much: pollution. In all, pollution kills 8.9 million people a
year, according to a new report, and as many as 200 million people suffer
pollution-related health problems, including brain damage from exposure to
lead, mercury, and pesticides. From Kenya to Kyrgyzstan, there are still
thousands of appallingly polluted places, from electronic waste dumps to toxic
old factories where chemicals continue to seep into the ground. One 2013 study of 373 sites in India,
Indonesia and the Philippines estimated that 8.5 million people were at risk of
serious disease-the equivalent burden of malaria and outdoor pollution
combined.
"Most of the
countries that are struggling with this have very limited resources to tackle
the problem," says David Hanrahan, senior technical advisor to the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP),
one of the groups behind the report. "In smaller, poorer countries, it may
not amount to more than a few hundred thousand dollars. That's very, very
little in comparison to what developed countries in Europe or North America
spend, and it's also small compared to other international aid flows." The
study comes from the Blacksmith Insitutte for Pure Health (a
New York nonprofit), the Green Cross in Switzerland, and GAHP. It follows a
similar report from last year that identified the world's most polluted places.
In addition to drawing attention to pollution, it shows how relatively low-cost
interventions can improve lives.
The groups list 10
projects that are "turning a corner on pollution" including one in
Dong Mai, a village in Vietnam. The area is covered in lead from recycling and
small-scale smelting. Working with local partners, Blacksmith covered the soil
with a "geotech" fabric (a semi-permeable material) then placed new
dirt over the top. Toxicity levels dropped 30% in three months, all for about
$20 per villager. In another example, from Thiaroye Sur Mer, in Senegal,
several international groups worked together to dig up the soil around areas
where women recovered lead from old batteries (the soil was 20% lead). They
took the dirt to a containment site and then
provided villagers with hydroponic systems and training,
so they could grow vegetables more safely. In a third example, from the
infamous Agbogbloshie e-waste dump, in Ghana, cheap
recycling machines have reduced the need for "pickers" to burn old
equipment to get components out. That reduces their exposure to toxic fumes
from plastics and other casing
materials.
A fourth example is back
home in Kenya, where we have seen Dandora dumpsite take years to relocate as
neighbouring residents more-so their children complain of respiratory
infections, Nairobi River is back to its old self, very polluted yet still used
by people along it to brew illicit liquors and domestic consumption. The foam
that formed a long Mbagathi way last year was a good example of how we continue
to lose in environmental protection. Water
resources are under pressure from agricultural chemicals and urban and
industrial wastes, as well as from use for hydroelectric power. Kenya expects a
shortage of water to pose a problem in the coming years. For example the
damming of the Omo River by the Gilgil Gibe III dam together with the plan to
use 30% to 50% of the water for sugar plantations will create huge
environmental problems. It is estimated that up to 50% of the water capacity of
Lake Turkana will be lost.
In the end, a keen look into these assaults on
the environment and their long time health effects reveals that we keep losing
more lives through environmental pollution and this largely contributes to
lower mortalities in the developing world. And there seems to be less
willingness to invest in clean energies for healthier citizens if for example the
planned multi-billion Kenyan coal project is anything to go by.
The writer is a Public
Health expert on community mobilization (chrispory.juma@gmail.com)
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