PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH and EXPOSURE CHARACTERIZATION IN Rapidly Urbanizing Areas of A LESS Developed Country IN AFRICA: Collaborative Short-Course Training and PILOT FIELD RESEARCH

Studies suggest associations between traffic and industry-related air pollutants and adverse health outcomes. Recent research focused on air concentration measurements near roadways, upwind on average (background) compared to sites downwind on average at defined intervals away from mobile line sources. Also, agents with multiple sources, both chemical (like carbon dioxide, CO2) and physical (like noise), have received increased global attention due to climate change and cognitive effects, respectively. Most research to date, however, was conducted in industrialized country urban centers. Urbanization is occurring more rapidly in small-to-medium sized cities in less developed counties. Ibadan, Nigeria is a historic city characterized by urban sprawl and increasing modernization as an academic and medical training center but no federal environmental laws. Ibadan is between Lagos (to south) and Abuja, the capital (to northeast). Ibadan's north end is relatively more modern and less congested. We conducted initial training at the University of Ibadan May 19-23, 2008 based on initial collaborative work 2006-2008 (published secondary schools-based research) and travel to Ibadan March, 2007. The training, one of the first of its kind in Africa, was “Advances in Community Outdoor and Indoor Air and Environmental Quality Monitoring and Exposure Assessment.” We included lectures, group discussions, field experiences at community and industrial sites, and planning and initiating master's thesis/pilot projects with practical, hands-on equipment and study protocol development demonstrations. Initial efforts characterized exposures to CO2, noise (loudness, A-weighted decibels), and particle count concentrations in typical vehicles and at sites near main north-to-south road (secondary schools, outdoor markets).