ICEH Papers

AIR POLLUTION AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN AFRICAN BIG CITIES: THE CASE OF COTONOU IN BENIN

BOKO, Gbètoho M. Joachim “Air Pollution And Respiratory Diseases In African Big Cities: The Case Of Cotonou In Benin” in Martin J. Bunch, V. Madha Suresh and T. Vasantha Kumaran, eds., Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Pages 32 -43.

Abstract:

To face the social and economical crisis of the end of the eighties in most African countries, and especially the unemployment problem, Beninese developed another urban mode of transportation called “zemidjan” (which means “Get me quickly”). This new two-wheeled vehicle taxi helped a lot of people to survive at the most critical phase of the crisis. This sector expanded in the 1990s: in 2002, preliminary statistics show about 160,000 “zemidjan” in Benin and 72,000 in Cotonou. The motorcycle exhaust, emitting air pollution all day long, creates health risks for drivers, passengers and the residents of the streets they ply. This is the reason Cotonou is one of the most polluted cities in west Africa. The pollution contributes to respiratory diseases and other ailments: respiratory infection, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc.

This paper sets up the problem of the city of Cotonou through environment quality indicators analysis (such as air quality) and uses statistical analysis methods, to give an overview of the situation. It also estimates and forecasts the human health risks to which people living in the “zemidjan” job, and people living in the city of Cotonou and its neighbourhood, are exposed to today, and will be in the coming decades. It reviews the measures taken by central and local governments to protect citizens again these risks. It ends with recommendations to help solve both the problem of pollution caused by the “zemidjan” and the problem of respiratory diseases that are a consequence of the former, but also to the urban planning problem underneath.

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