Environmental health situation in Nigeria: current status and future needs

Hyellai Titus Pona; Duan Xiaoli; Olusola O Ayantobo; Narh Daniel Tetteh

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06330

Environmental health situation in Nigeria: current status and future needs

Heliyon. 2021 Mar 23;7(3):e06330. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06330. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Hyellai Titus Pona¹, Duan Xiaoli^{1

2}, Olusola O Ayantobo^{3

4}, Narh Daniel Tetteh⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China.
² School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology & Head of Center for Environmental Health Research, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Water Resources Management and Agricultural-Meteorology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
⁵ School of Communication and Information, Beihang University, China.

Abstract

Environmental health-related risks are becoming a primary concern in Nigeria, with diverse environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, oil spillage, deforestation, desertification, erosion, and flooding (due to inadequate drainage systems) caused mostly by anthropogenic activities. This paper reviews the pre-existing and current environmental health problems, proffer future research and needs, policy needs, and recommendations necessary to mitigate Nigeria's environmental health situation. Data from the Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation on Global Burden of Disease (GBD) was used to ascertain the causes of Death and Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in Nigeria from 2007-2017 and published literatures where reviewed. According to the world health data report, most of the highest-ranked causes of DALYs in Nigeria are related to environmental risk factors. The lower respiratory infection associated with air pollution has advanced from the 4^th in 2007 to the highest ranked cause of death in 2017. Other predominant causes of death associated with environmental risk factors include chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, enteric infections, diarrheal diseases, communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disease, which has resulted in approximately 800 thousand deaths and 26 million people living with DALYs per annum in Nigeria. Major environmental risk factors include household air pollution, ambient air pollution, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH), which shows a prolonged but progressive decline. In contrast, ambient particulate matter pollution, ambient ozone pollution, and lead exposure show a steady rise associated with death and DALYs in Nigeria, indicating a significant concern in an environmental health-related risk situation. Sustaining a healthy environment is critical in improving the quality of life and the span of a healthy life. Therefore, environmentally sustainable development policies and practices should be essential to the population and policymakers for a healthy life.

Keywords: Disability-adjusted life years; Diseases; Environment; Environmental health; Pollution; Risk factors.

Publication types

Review