Mutembei Kariuki - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Disaster risk reduction is becoming increasingly more important as the challenges of Sustainabili... more Disaster risk reduction is becoming increasingly more important as the challenges of Sustainability require more resilience for complex Human systems. Rapid Urbanization exposes humanity to increased risks of disasters. The city of Nairobi as the study focus is the rapidly expanding capital of the Republic of Kenya. Rapid urbanizing in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenges in the areas of socioeconomic and environmental development. The risk of Pandemics spreading out of control as the city is a global transport hub is not unimaginable. There has been a lack of sustainable and environmentally safe disposal systems and this leads to the risk of health epidemics such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa running out of control. The proposed research seeks use GIS technology to combine public transport data with urban land use data to produce an Epidemic transmitting Hazard Map of Public Transportation showing low risk routes in case of a Human Pandemic. This will be used to show routes that reduce the potential of disease outbreaks from the transportation of medical waste in Nairobi, Kenya. The outcome of this study is to develop a supporting tracking and routing system for a centralized Medical waste Disposal facility in Nairobi, Kenya. This will be in form of a web and mobile device application to be developed with the data generated from this study.
Rapid urbanization in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenge in the areas of... more Rapid urbanization in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenge in the areas of socioeconomic and environmental development. One key problem is the rapid increase of waste within developing countries and is associated with population growth, economic growth and expansion of social services such as health care. The solutions to waste management remain a core component for healthy living and a sustainable environment in cities. A critical segment of this waste is medical waste from health facilities and hazardous waste from Industries that are growing rapidly around the developing world. However, there has been a lack of sustainable and environmentally safe disposal systems such as incineration facilities. Most facilities use either open burning or unsuitable incinerators which release large amounts of CO2 and other hazardous gases and chemicals into the atmosphere, causing a potent health and environmental risk to the population. A feasibility study done by Shirai Eco Center Inc. with the support of JICA identified the current situation of medical waste management in Kenya and has begun the process of setting up a 12,000 ton per year Japanese specification incinerator in Nairobi to manage medical waste currently produced in Nairobi and surrounding counties.
Objectives: Air pollution continues to be a major challenge as countries develop. Low and middle-... more Objectives: Air pollution continues to be a major challenge as countries develop. Low and middle-income countries seem the most affected today. According to the WHO, indoor pollution accounts for 4.3 million deaths a year, mostly in low and middle-income countries.
In regards to outdoor air pollution, the WHO estimated that 3.7 million premature deaths were caused by outdoor air pollution in 2012.The WHO, based on the current scientific evaluation, has been able to connect certain levels of Particulate Matter, Ozone (O3), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other chemical compounds, with harmful health effects.
One of the main challenges of managing air pollution in low and middle-income countries is the lack of emission monitoring equipment that is used in higher income countries. This may be attributed to the high cost of the equipment and lack of expertise. The objective of this study is to examine how the advent of inexpensive sensor technology and access to the Internet through mobile devices can create an opportunity to measure, analyze, and visualize air pollution data at a low cost.
Methods: For this study, we have used low-cost open sources technologies such as the Arduino microprocessor board; 3D printing; free online internet of things dashboards; low-cost chemical gas sensors; android phones and a solar based power source. A system was created and tested in the lab and field to collect data to verify the system can function. A comparison has been with the cost other existing technologies in a middle-income country such as Kenya and high specification portable equipment such as the Horiba PG-350Z and the UNEP Air Quality Unit.
Results: The system was able to effectively take measurements from the lab and field test and visualize the data.
Conclusion: The study shows that it is possible to have a low-cost air pollution health risk monitor. However, the study notes that a lot more research is needed to validate the results of the low-cost sensors and the overall accuracy and reliability of the system.
Index Terms - Air pollution; Internet of Things; Sensors; Health; Smart Cities; Monitoring system
Disaster risk reduction is becoming increasingly more important as the challenges of Sustainabili... more Disaster risk reduction is becoming increasingly more important as the challenges of Sustainability require more resilience for complex Human systems. Rapid Urbanization exposes humanity to increased risks of disasters. The city of Nairobi as the study focus is the rapidly expanding capital of the Republic of Kenya. Rapid urbanizing in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenges in the areas of socioeconomic and environmental development. The risk of Pandemics spreading out of control as the city is a global transport hub is not unimaginable. There has been a lack of sustainable and environmentally safe disposal systems and this leads to the risk of health epidemics such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa running out of control. The proposed research seeks use GIS technology to combine public transport data with urban land use data to produce an Epidemic transmitting Hazard Map of Public Transportation showing low risk routes in case of a Human Pandemic. This will be used to show routes that reduce the potential of disease outbreaks from the transportation of medical waste in Nairobi, Kenya. The outcome of this study is to develop a supporting tracking and routing system for a centralized Medical waste Disposal facility in Nairobi, Kenya. This will be in form of a web and mobile device application to be developed with the data generated from this study.
Rapid urbanization in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenge in the areas of... more Rapid urbanization in Kenya has become a source of major sustainability challenge in the areas of socioeconomic and environmental development. One key problem is the rapid increase of waste within developing countries and is associated with population growth, economic growth and expansion of social services such as health care. The solutions to waste management remain a core component for healthy living and a sustainable environment in cities. A critical segment of this waste is medical waste from health facilities and hazardous waste from Industries that are growing rapidly around the developing world. However, there has been a lack of sustainable and environmentally safe disposal systems such as incineration facilities. Most facilities use either open burning or unsuitable incinerators which release large amounts of CO2 and other hazardous gases and chemicals into the atmosphere, causing a potent health and environmental risk to the population. A feasibility study done by Shirai Eco Center Inc. with the support of JICA identified the current situation of medical waste management in Kenya and has begun the process of setting up a 12,000 ton per year Japanese specification incinerator in Nairobi to manage medical waste currently produced in Nairobi and surrounding counties.
Objectives: Air pollution continues to be a major challenge as countries develop. Low and middle-... more Objectives: Air pollution continues to be a major challenge as countries develop. Low and middle-income countries seem the most affected today. According to the WHO, indoor pollution accounts for 4.3 million deaths a year, mostly in low and middle-income countries.
In regards to outdoor air pollution, the WHO estimated that 3.7 million premature deaths were caused by outdoor air pollution in 2012.The WHO, based on the current scientific evaluation, has been able to connect certain levels of Particulate Matter, Ozone (O3), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other chemical compounds, with harmful health effects.
One of the main challenges of managing air pollution in low and middle-income countries is the lack of emission monitoring equipment that is used in higher income countries. This may be attributed to the high cost of the equipment and lack of expertise. The objective of this study is to examine how the advent of inexpensive sensor technology and access to the Internet through mobile devices can create an opportunity to measure, analyze, and visualize air pollution data at a low cost.
Methods: For this study, we have used low-cost open sources technologies such as the Arduino microprocessor board; 3D printing; free online internet of things dashboards; low-cost chemical gas sensors; android phones and a solar based power source. A system was created and tested in the lab and field to collect data to verify the system can function. A comparison has been with the cost other existing technologies in a middle-income country such as Kenya and high specification portable equipment such as the Horiba PG-350Z and the UNEP Air Quality Unit.
Results: The system was able to effectively take measurements from the lab and field test and visualize the data.
Conclusion: The study shows that it is possible to have a low-cost air pollution health risk monitor. However, the study notes that a lot more research is needed to validate the results of the low-cost sensors and the overall accuracy and reliability of the system.
Index Terms - Air pollution; Internet of Things; Sensors; Health; Smart Cities; Monitoring system