Abstract. Monitoring of air pollution is an active area of research. A numbers of agencies; environmental, health and governments consider access to clean unpolluted air as a basic requirement for human, plant, animal and environmental health. As many countries develop and move up socio-economic scale, emissions will increase, rising pollution levels and causing health concerns. It is therefore paramount that ad hoc and continuous monitoring be undertaken to ascertain air pollutant levels. This study presents a statistical analysis of selected air pollutants from Athi River Township, Kajiado County in Kenya. The data was collected over three sites downwind of the township that are highly exposed to pollutants from Athi River town. The study was carried out using various gas analyzers and samplers mounted in a Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory van. Concentration of particulate matter was generally high in the morning and late evening hours. The concentration was found to be above World Health Organisation air quality levels; the mean 24 hours of PM 2.5 was 30.74 μg/m 3 exceeding WHO limit of 25 μg/m 3 .The concentration of Black Carbon was found to range from medium to extremely high concentration in the region. However, the compounds of nitrogen, sulphur and hydrogen are generally low. To improve air quality in Athi River, mitigation measures such as limiting the establishment of more high energy-consuming industries and prioritize the use of clean energy sources. The study faced challenges in categorizing the concentration of the pollutants, calling for finalisation of air quality regulations and guidelines.
We present novel co-created transdisciplinary research that uses arts and humanities methods to explore air pollution in an informal settlement (Mukuru) in Nairobi, Kenya. Air pollution is a well-documented major human health issue, but despite many air pollution reduction interventions designed to improve health, these are frequently ineffective. Often this is because they fail to account for local knowledge, cultural practices and priorities of the intended recipients. Designing solutions therefore requires in-depth exploration of relevant issues with stakeholders. Researchers worked collaboratively with local residents to develop a range of methods to explore understandings of air pollution including interviews, storytelling, participatory mapping and theatre. Together, we uncovered contrasting definitions of air pollution, differing perceptions of who was responsible for enacting solutions, and overall a view that air pollution cannot be seen in isolation from the other issues faced by settlement residents. The methods used also allowed us to communicate about the topic with a wide audience. While we acknowledge that this research approach is more time consuming than traditional approaches, we urge other researchers wishing to address multifactorial problems, such as air pollution to use a mixture of qualitative, participatory and creative methods to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to elicit new and unexpected understandings that may not otherwise emerge.
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