Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Nelson R Mandela School of Clinical Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4013, South Africa.
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital and MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 26;17(17):6178. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17176178.
Air pollution is increasingly recognized as a global health emergency with its impacts being wide ranging, more so for low- and middle-income countries where both indoor and outdoor pollution levels are high. In Africa, more than 80% of children live in households which use unclean sources of energy. The effects of both indoor and outdoor pollution on lung health on children who are the most vulnerable to their effects range from acute lower respiratory tract infections to long-term chronic health effects. We reviewed the literature on the effects of air pollution in children in Sub-Saharan Africa from prenatal exposure, infancy and school-going children. Data from Sub-Saharan Africa on quantification of exposures both indoor and outdoor mainly utilizes modelling or self-reporting. Exposures to biomass not only increases the risk of acute respiratory tract infections in young children but also increases the risk of carriage of pathogenic bacteria in the upper respiratory tract. Although there is limited evidence of association between asthma and pollution in African children, airway hyper-responsiveness and lower lung function has been demonstrated in children with higher risk of exposure. Interventions at a policy level to both quantify the exposure levels at a population level are urgently needed to address the possible interventions to limit exposure and improve lung health in children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
空气污染日益被视为全球卫生紧急事件，其影响范围广泛，对于中低收入国家更是如此，这些国家的室内和室外污染水平都很高。在非洲，超过 80%的儿童生活在使用非清洁能源的家庭中。室内和室外空气污染对儿童肺部健康的影响范围从急性下呼吸道感染到长期慢性健康影响不等，儿童对这些影响最为敏感。我们回顾了撒哈拉以南非洲地区儿童在产前暴露、婴儿期和学龄儿童期的空气污染影响的文献。关于室内和室外暴露定量的数据主要利用建模或自我报告。生物量的暴露不仅增加了幼儿急性呼吸道感染的风险，还增加了上呼吸道携带病原菌的风险。尽管在非洲儿童中，哮喘和污染之间的关联证据有限，但在暴露风险较高的儿童中已经证明了气道高反应性和较低的肺功能。在政策层面上，迫切需要进行干预，以在人群水平上量化暴露水平，从而有可能采取干预措施限制暴露并改善撒哈拉以南非洲儿童的肺部健康。
