The C2Rest Study Nigeria has concluded plans to start medical research to understand the impact of climate change on the respiratory health of people living in grassroots communities using some selected locations in Lagos and Ogun states as a case in study.
Dr. Obianuju Ozoh, Principal Investigator, C2Rest Study Nigeria, made the disclosure in her speech at the workshop on “Community Engagement on Climate Change and Respiratory Health” which held in Atan-Ota Area of Ogun State from December 20 to 21, 2024.
Ozoh, who is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, and a Consultant Pulmonologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, disclosed: “The purpose of this workshop is to engage the community because we are planning to embark on the study where we are going to assess the health impacts of climate change, on the respiratory health of the members of this community and, to do this, we understand that it we can’t just come and begin to assess their health without them understanding the impact of climate change, what they are doing to contribute to climate change and how to also empower them to understand ways they can mitigate the impact of climate change. The session has been a very interactive session because the community members also have their ideas and understand some of the things that they are doing that are impacting climate change and they also have solutions and suggestions on how things can be better.”
According to her, “This study is not just to engage the community going forward. Starting from January 2025, we’re going to engage on a longitudinal study in which we are going to measure the health impact of climate change. We are going to place monitors in the community that will measure the air quality because we know that air quality is an effect of climate change and poor air quality attacks the health. So we measure the air quality and the community, and then we will take the community members and follow them up over a period of time to see how this air quality is impacting their respiratory health.
“In particular, we are focusing on the respiratory health because we know that when it comes to air pollution and air quality, the first contact is through the nostrils because we breathe it in. So, our lungs and our respiratory system is the first part of the body to be exposed to air pollution, so that’s why this study is focused on respiratory health.
“This is a three-year project. We just started in 2024, and we’re hoping to continue to work on this up to 2027. And by then we’ll be able to have some results. With these results were going to come back to the community. So, this is not the end of our engagement with the community when we get the results in the next 18 months or so. We hope to come back to the community to share this result with them, we will tell them what the air quality in their environment is. We also want to tell them how it’s affecting their health with that information. They are empowered and are able to go back to their leaders and able to engage them to be able to demand for good air quality,” Dr. Ozoh stated.
In her remarks, Dr. Tolu Babatope highlighted the need to engage the residents of the community on the negative health impact of climate change.
Dr. Babatope, a medical doctor with Lagos State Ministry of Health, is of the opinion that “we want the communities to understand the role that they play in this issue of air pollution. For instance, when people burn refuse and then cook with their materials like charcoal and firewood, these contributes to the air pollution. We want the people in the community to know that they also have a role to play in ensuring that they keep the air that they breathe in clean.
“And there is need for us to talk to government about the issue of air pollution but, before we go ahead and talk about, we need to present the government with adequate evidence. That’s the essence of this community engagement.
In her submission, Ms. Titilope Akosa, Executive Director, Centre for 21st Century Issues, said: “We are collaborating with C2Rest on this research work on climate change and respiratory health in Nigeria in order to ensure provision of good quality air for people of the grassroots.”
On why the choice of Sango and Atan Ota in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Ms. Akosa said: “The choice of this location is because it’s a community and that we believe that it is at the local community that we understand the sources of pollution in the air. Also, there are several communities that will have gone, but we wanted to look at these communities because of the large concentration of commercial activities there.
“Our engagement with these communities has opened our eyes to different sources of air pollution in the community apart from the one that is caused by climate change. There is also an understanding of what climate change is all about and how pollution in terms of emission from different activities in the community can contribute to climate change and how that also affected respiratory diseases among the people.”
Oluwafemi Abe, Lead Project Facilitator with C21st Issues, explained further that, starting from January 2025, Purple Air – a device used in monitoring air quality – will be donated to the communities, to help in the conduct of the research.
Babatunde Owolewa, speaking on behalf of the residents of Ipamesan Community in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government, is full of praise for the facilitator of the programme because, according to him, it affords the residents of the community an opportunity to understand the health implication of air pollution.
He said: “We now know better, and we will be able to relate the message of this workshop to everybody in this community like desisting from the act of refuse burning, inhaling fumes from the generator and others which could damage their lungs.”
The C2Rest Study is led by researchers from Nigeria and United Kingdom with Principal Investigators from Teeside University and the University of Lagos.
By Ajibola Adedoye
