The gains in life expectancy by ambient PM2.5 pollution reductions in localities in Nigeria

Abstract

Global burden of disease estimates reveal that people in Nigeria are living shorter lifespan than the regional or global average life expectancy. Ambient air pollution is a top risk factor responsible for the reduced longevity. But, the magnitude of the loss or the gains in longevity accruing from the pollution reductions, which are capable of driving mitigation interventions in Nigeria, remain unknown. Thus, we estimate the loss, and the gains in longevity resulting from ambient PM pollution reductions at the local sub-national level using life table approach. Surface average PM concentration datasets covering Nigeria with spatial resolution of ∼1 km were obtained from the global gridded concentration fields, and combined with ∼1 km gridded population of the world (GPWv4), and global administrative unit layers (GAUL) for territorial boundaries classification. We estimate the loss or gains in longevity using population-weighted average pollution level and baseline mortality data for cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer in adults ≥25 years and for respiratory infection in children under 5. As at 2015, there are six "highly polluted", thirty "polluted" and one "moderately polluted" States in Nigeria. People residing in these States lose ∼3.8-4.0, 3.0-3.6 and 2.7 years of life expectancy, respectively, due to the pollution exposure. But, assuming interventions achieve global air quality guideline of 10 μg/m, longevity would increase by 2.6-2.9, 1.9-2.5 and 1.6 years for people in the State-categories, respectively. The longevity gains are indeed high, but to achieve them, mitigation interventions should target emission sources having the highest population exposures.

The Health Cost of Ambient Air Pollution in Lagos

“…Previous studies valuing the cost of air pollution in Nigeria are also worth noting. For example, Etchie et al estimated the health cost of air pollution in all Nigerian states, based on satellite-derived PM 2.5 data [18]; the result for Lagos State was substantially lower than that of the present study (US$1.1 billion vs. US$2 billion), primarily due to the use of a lower PM 2.5 concentration data and a slightly different methodology. Yaduma et al estimated the economic cost of PM 10 pollution at the national level at US$33.5 billion in 2006 [47], using an earlier methodology [48], not comparable to that employed in the present study [7].…”

“…Figure 1 shows that the PM 2.5 concentration varies from 12 µg/m 3 to 85 µg/m 3 , depending on the location, season, time frame and year of measurement. One publication used satellite data, however without calibration with ground-level measurements [18]. Most other efforts collected PM 2.5 data using air samplers over short periods of time, usually less than three months [19] [24]; and two days a week for one year, from December 2010 to November 2011, in three locations, by [25].…”

Does environment quality and public spending on environment promote life expectancy in China? Evidence from a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach

“…The MR holds a continuous decreasing trend. Existing studies [45][46][47][48] found that pollution has adversely affected the life expectancy.…”

Environmental Health Research in Africa: Important Progress and Promising Opportunities

“…Articles represented scientific depth and detail across the continent, covering key public health issues. Among all article types, notable endpoints evaluated were cardiovascular and cardiometabolic outcomes (Wichmann and Voyi, 2012;Benaissa et al, 2016), as well as broader burden of disease or life expectancy estimates (Berhane et al, 2016;Mokdad andGBD 2015 Eastern Mediterranean Region Lower Respiratory Infections Collaborators, 2018;Etchie et al, 2018). Some studies reported null findings.…”