Policymakers are working on clean air rules to combat one of Malawi’s top five health threats, thanks to emerging data.
Scientists say air pollution cuts Malawians’ life expectancy by a year, but the danger could worsen with industrialisation and population boom.
However, both citizens and government scarcely on air quality amid the national vision to transform Malawi into an industrialised upper-middle-income economy by 2063.
Associate Professor Chikumbusko Kaonga, from the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas), warns that the shift from a consuming nation to a producing economy means more pollution, deforestation and dust storms and smoky fumes from factories and motor vehicles.
He leads a team that works with the Malawi Initiative for Clean Air Solutions (Mifcas) and government agencies to produce air quality data that Malawians can use.
He states: “In the past, there was a general notion that air pollution is not a problem in Malawi, but the data we are generating is painting a different picture altogether.”
Kaonga says understanding that polluted air can kill like malaria and tuberculosis will help reduce preventable diseases and deaths.
Mubas and Mifcas have installed 24 low-cost air-quality monitors across 11 districts with support from the Epic Air Quality Fund.
Mifcas has also installed the country’s first regulatory-grade monitor at Mzuzu University.
For the first time, the districts and the northern city receive data about the air they breathe.
“Air pollution is invisible, but it’s widely known that it is not only a health burden but an economic and social problem,” says Mifcas leader Collins Hodoli.
Mifcas comprises the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS), Malawi Environmental Protection (Mepa) Agency and the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) representatives.
Hodoli, a lecturer at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development in Ghana, is a member of the Clean Air One Atmosphere initiative in that country.
He brings lessons from their work in West Africa.
The scientists hope the data will change minds and policies.
Change is already happening.
Currently, DCCMS uses the Mubas data to send weekly Air Quality Bulletins.
“The multifaceted problem of air pollution requires an inter-agency coordination between government departments, researchers, civil society organisations and a strong political will,” says Hodoli.
Mubas and Mifcas are working with government agencies such as DCCMS.
Together, they installed the first monitor at DCCMS in Blantyre.
Kaonga is delighted that “the government has started to view air pollution as a problem and taking action”.
He was the lead technical editor of a chapter devoted to air pollution in the National State of the Environment and Outlook released by Mepa this month.
Mepa director Wilfred Kadewa says regulators will use the data to set Malawi’s first air quality standards in partnership with MBS.
The environmental protectors are also engaging the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services to include emissions in the process of certifying vehicles.
Government has drafted Malawi’s first-ever air pollution control rules.
Recently, experts gathered to discuss the Clean Air Regulations, including district-specific air quality management plans based on the emerging data.
Kadewa says accurate and relevant data is pivotal for effective policymaking and regulation, as “air quality monitoring is not comprehensively treated in our national agenda”.
“The academician and regulator in me is super excited about this [air quality monitoring] project,” he says. ”With no domain-specific data, nothing can be done to reduce the health burden of air pollution for the country to improve livelihoods.
They plan to form local task forces in all 28 districts to monitor the sources of air pollution and to continue educating the public on how to reduce pollution.
They will also integrate clean air science education into the primary and secondary curriculum in the country.
