Kenya to host clean air research centre
Kenya has been chosen to host a research centre in Africa to determine the effects of air pollution resulting from household items.
The development is part of the African continent’s initiative to seek the support of global experts in efforts to reduce diseases resultant from pollution of the air and homesteads.
In a programme that will be co-directed by researchers from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) alongside scientists from Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, the content is seeking advanced help by researchers from the United Kingdom in addressing the substantial burden of diseases that emanate from exposure to household air pollution.
Already, a global health research team from the University of Liverpool has received Sh 1 billion from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in UK to accelerate efforts to reduce household air related diseases. In the five-year-program of policy-oriented research and health systems strengthening, the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on CLEAN-Air (Africa) will be focusing on informing national strategies to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ‘Universal access to affordable and clean energy’ (SDG7) that will improve health (SDG3), gender equality (SDG5), economic growth (SDG8) and climate (SDG13) by 2030.
According to professor Daniel Pope, the Director of CLEAN-Air (Africa), the organization will partner with ambitious commercial innovators in East Africa who are making clean cooking both accessible and affordable to the poorest populations.
