Nairobi’s air has been polluted for decades: new review suggests a path forward
ACCORDING to the State of the Global Air 2020 report, ambient air pollution was responsible for around 5,000 premature deaths in Kenya in 2019 alone. It is the fourth most important risk factor in driving death and disability combined in Kenya. Indeed, the 2017 national economic survey estimated that 19.9 million Kenyans suffer from respiratory ailments that are exacerbated by poor air quality. PRIYANKA DESOUZA, PhD researcher at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Kenya’s national environmental management agency imposed regulations in 2014 for national ambient air quality standards. These set out the maximum permissible…