ABSTRACT
Ambient and indoor air pollutants have been a major source of concern all over the world, especially in major cities of developing countries due to increasing need for transportation, industrial development and fuels for household uses by an increasing population of dwellers. These pollutants, which majorly include particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, cause significant morbid conditions ranging in severity from eye irritation to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases with mortality cases at extremes. The growing threat of these pollutants in the face of rapid urbanization therefore calls for proactive measures to be adopted. Strategies should involve better traffic management and control of vehicle and industrial emissions, use of cleaner and safer fuels for household needs, employment of pollution forecasting technologies and strict legislations to ensure adherence to guidelines on air safety.
INTRODUCTION
On Earth, air quality is continually compromised due to rapid growth of the population in cities, development of industry and intensification of road traffic (Krzyzanowsk and Schwela, 1999). In recent decades, air pollution has become one of the most important problems of megacities because of large concentrations of people and activities, which exert stress on the natural environment (Molina and Molina, 2004). According to a World Health Organization (1997a) report, ambient concentrations of air pollutants tend to be highest in developing countries and likely to decline only when higher levels of development are reached. This may be explained using the main hypothesis in environmental economics which posits that as the per capita income of a nation increases, the environmental quality deteriorates up to a point before improving as income continues to rise.
The poor air quality in many
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