Effects of Indoor Environmental Quality in Urban Housing on Residents' Health and Wellbeing in Nigeria

Abstract

The building industry's contribution as a non-clinical contributor to the quality of life is its impact on occupants’ health. A health-based standardised questionnaire and a digital data collection device were used to investigate the susceptibility of building indoor air quality (IAQ) to infectious diseases. PM2.5 (63 μm/m3) and PM10 (228 μm/m3) obtained exceeded the international standard. Some associations between certain building characteristics and potential risk factors for certain diseases were seen. This study provides a platform for future intervention in housing and public health policies and addresses the conundrum of safe and healthy buildings for the urban populace in Nigeria. Keywords: Housing Quality; Residents’ Health; Quality Life; Nigeria eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v8i23.4505

Public Housing Project Delivery in Nigeria: Quality versus Quantity

“…This could be owing to insufficient cross-ventilation in the bedrooms caused by an improper kind and restricted number of windows, which may have reduced the ventilation threshold and, as a result, resulted in poor pollutant disposal within the bedrooms. This is congruent with the findings of Al-Tamimi et al, (2011); Akande et al, 2023), who observed that architectural characteristics such as building position and orientation, as well as the type and positioning of windows, have a significant influence on air movements inside a building. Furthermore, their research found that windows that are not correctly positioned to take advantage of the prevailing wind direction result in an overall insufficient design for airflow, compromising the residents' well-being, comfort, and health.…”

“…However, if housing designers, developers, and managers focus on factors that raise housing quality adequacy, the quality of housing can be considerably improved. Additional research by Akande (2021) and Akande et al, (2023) emphasised the importance of end users' indoor environmental quality and health consequences when it comes to housing provision in Nigeria. Their results support Europe's (1988) recommendation for adequate housing, which claims that inadequate housing has three major negative effects on occupants' physical health and promotes the spread of infectious diseases.…”