Air-Noise Pollution Linkages: Testing Innovative Community-Based Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in Kenya
Manasi Kumar1, Ngongang Wandji Danube2, Vincent Nyongesa3
1Department of Population Health and the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, NY, USA.
Insights
Environmental monitoring of air and noise pollution in Kenyan healthcare facilities revealed significantly degraded air quality and elevated noise levels, impacting perinatal adolescents
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Public Health
- Mental Health
Background:
- Perinatal adolescents are a vulnerable population with specific mental health needs.
- Environmental factors like air and noise pollution can significantly impact mental well-being.
- Limited data exists on the relationship between environmental monitoring and mental health support for perinatal adolescents in low-resource settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the role of environmental monitoring in addressing the mental health needs of perinatal adolescents.
- To assess air and noise pollution levels in healthcare facilities and households serving perinatal adolescents in Kenya.
- To test the feasibility of using community health workers and youth leaders for environmental health data collection.
Main Methods:
- Installation of outdoor air quality and noise sensors at four healthcare facilities and two households in Kilifi and Nairobi.
- Community health workers collected environmental data (air quality, noise levels) and experiential data (stress, mood) from perinatal adolescents.
- A task-shifting model was employed, training community health workers and youth leaders in environmental health data collection.
Main Results:
- Air quality monitoring indicated significantly degraded air quality at all sites, with Kariobangi Health Center exceeding WHO guidelines for PM2.5.
- Noise monitoring revealed consistently elevated levels in healthcare settings, surpassing WHO guidelines for hospital environments.
- Household-level monitoring faced operational challenges, including sensor deployment issues and data variability, highlighting the need for improved strategies.
Conclusions:
- Air and noise monitoring can serve as a tool to strengthen health systems and improve patient care for perinatal adolescents.
- Task-shifting to community health workers and youth leaders offers a sustainable approach to environmental health data collection.
- Concerted mitigation and adaptation efforts are crucial to address the impact of air and noise pollution on vulnerable populations within primary care.
Abstract:
Introduction: Our case study was conducted across healthcare facilities in Kilifi and Nairobi, where perinatal adolescents were screened for depression. Objective: The relationship of environmental monitoring in addressing mental health needs of vulnerable perinatal adolescent populations was explored. Methods: We installed outdoor air quality sensors at two facilities in Nairobi-Kangemi and Kariobangi North health centers-and two in Kilifi-Mtwapa and Vipingo health centers-and installed sensors in two households of two perinatal adolescents. Community health workers monitored air quality and noise levels data, collecting experiential data on stress and mood from perinatal adolescents. Findings: Air quality monitoring revealed site-specific variations in PM2.5 concentrations. Kariobangi Health Center recorded the highest mean concentration of 29.45 µg/m³, exceeding the WHO 2021 annual guideline of 5 µg/m³ indicating substantially degraded air quality. Kangemi Health Center was next (21.27 µg/m³), followed by Mtwapa (15.34 µg/m³) and Vipingo (12.52 µg/m³). Noise monitoring revealed consistently elevated exposure in healthcare settings. At Kangemi Health Center, mean noise levels reached 52.2 dB (median: 53.5 dB), surpassing the WHO guideline for hospital settings (<35-40 dB). Household-level air quality monitoring highlighted significant operational challenges: sensor deployment constraints, difficulties in ensuring continuous temporal coverage, and substantial intra-day variability-underscoring the need for improved monitoring design and calibration strategies. Conclusions: We tested air and noise monitoring deployment as a lever for strengthening the health system and a strategy for improved patient care and mental well-being. We trained community health workers and youth leaders in a task-shifting model to collect environmental health data. Our approach sought to ease the deployment of environmental monitoring in a sustainable data collection process. However, both mitigation, targeting reduction in sources of pollution, and adaptation efforts focused on coping with the effects of air and noise pollution on vulnerable populations within primary care need concerted efforts.
