Environmental health science research: opportunities and challenges for some developing countries in Africa.

Due to ongoing developmental projects, there is a need for regular monitoring of the impact of pollutants on the environment. This review documented the challenges and opportunities in the field of environmental health sciences in some African countries. A systematic review was used to investigate opportunities and challenges in the field of environmental health science in Africa by examining published work with a specific focus on Africa.

Assessment of organophosphate pesticide residues in environmental media of Araromi farm settlement, Osun State, Nigeria.

The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence and distribution of organophosphate compounds residue in soil, surface water, sediment, and banana crops in Araromi farm settlement, Osun State, Nigeria. Organophosphate pesticide residues were determined using a gas chromatography equipped with Flame-Ionization Detection (GC-FID) in 16 soil samples from cocoa and banana farms, 6 water and sediment samples each, and 8 banana samples from 4 farms in the study site. Fourteen organophosphate compounds were detected (acephate, omethoate, dementon-s-methyl, dimethoate, tolcofos-methyl, pirimiphos-methyl, malathion, chlorpyrifos, methidathion, prothiofos, profenofos, ethion, azinphos-methyl and pyrazophos).

Opportunities and Challenges for Filling the Air Quality Data Gap in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Given the millions of people suffering from air pollution, filling the air quality monitoring gap in low- and middle-income countries has been recognized as a global challenge. To meet this challenge and make it work will require private enterprise, multiple levels of government, international organizations, academia and civil society to work together toward the common goal of characterizing, understanding better, and then reducing, the air pollution that causes sickness and preventable death for millions of people each year in lowand middle-income countries around the world. This article offers concrete next steps on how to make progress toward increasing air quality monitoring using a combination of emerging technologies, adaptation to country-specific conditions, and building capacity towards the development of lasting institutions.

Assessing the recent estimates of the global burden of disease for ambient air pollution: Methodological changes and implications for low- and middle-income countries.

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) is a comparative assessment of the health impact of the major and well-established risk factors, including ambient air pollution (AAP) assessed by concentrations of PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 µm) and ozone.

Permeability of lime-activated pulverised fuel ash to metal-containing permeants.

Lime-activated pulverised fuel ash (PFA) has been leach tested under a range of pH conditions and the permeability of compacted samples determined using distilled water and aqueous solutions of Ca2+, Zn2+, Cd2+ and Mg2+. Although permeabilities were relatively high when tested with distilled water (> 1x10(-7) m/s), permeation with 0.05M metal solutions resulted in rapid reductions in permeability to less than 1x10(-10) m/s.