As the world marked the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies on September 7, it emerged that air quality is a growing cause of concern. Over three million premature deaths globally are attributed to poor ambient air quality per year. Approximately 87 percent of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. According to an air quality inventory, in Rwanda, in 2012, at least 2,227 deaths were attributed to ambient air pollution. The main cause of death and years of life lost from poor air quality in Rwanda was acute lower respiratory disease or stroke. In 2012 the top cause of morbidity in health centres in Rwanda was acute respiratory infections, accounting for 21.7 percent of all patients admitted to health centres and 6.8 percent of patients admitted to hospitals. Respiratory infections are the largest cause of deaths in children under the age of five in Rwanda. The study shows that the number of hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections in health centers consistently increased from 1,682,321 in 2012 to 3,331,300 in 2015. The interventions set out to curb the challenge are welcome. The launch of an Air Quality Monitoring System to provide real-time air quality information through a new website and mobile application will be key in pointing out pain points. The monitoring system will provide data on the quality of the air at 23 sites across the country. The initial findings revealed that the highest levels of pollution are found near busy roads especially in Kigali city. Emissions from traffic are the major source of pollution in Kigali city especially near busy roads while cooking with charcoal and other biomass is the major source of pollution in residential areas. Going forward, it’s not enough to only collect the data on key pollutants, the findings ought to be acted upon by all stakeholders especially factories, car owners as well as investments that can help the public shift to cleaner cooking fuels. Acting on this data will no doubt save lives and avoid unnecessary ailments.
