This project is on a mission to contribute to the improvement of urban ambient air quality by providing scientific evidence and low-cost technologies to quantify and inform policy to reduce, contain and better manage air pollution and its associated health risks.

This project on a mission to contribute to the improvement of urban ambient air quality by providing scientific evidence and low-cost technologies to quantify and inform policy to reduce, contain and better manage air pollution and its associated health risks.

Project Aims

• to develop low-cost tools and methods that can be used by city and regulatory authorities to do regular monitoring of air quality in urban areas
• to provide insights into the sources and quantification of the magnitude of outdoor air pollution in Kampala
• to engage and make citizens aware about the air pollution problem, its associated health risks and strategies to minimize exposure
• to Influence policy using evidence-based knowledge so as to better regulate, contain, reduce and manage air pollution in urban areas

Motivation

• Many cities in low-income countries do not currently do regular monitoring of the pollution, or research into its causes, and its associated disease burden.
• According WHO Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, 2016, 98% of cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet WHO air quality guidelines.
• Air pollution is more deadly in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water. Air pollution in Africa kills 712,000 people a year prematurely, compared with approximately 542,000 from unsafe water, 275,000 from malnutrition and 391,000 from unsafe sanitation (OECD Development Centre, 2016).

Acknowledgement

The AirQO innovation was born out of the Software Systems Center that was established and supported under the Bright Sida/317 project with Sida support through the Embassy of Sweden in Kampala.