Joint effects of ambient air pollution mixtures on health outcomes in Cape Town, 2001 - 2016

Air pollution is a major public health problem and an environmental risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Yearly, over 4.2 million deaths are attributed to air pollution. People are exposed to multiple air pollutants but only a few air quality index (AQI) reflects this reality. The objectives of this PhD thesis are (1) develop an air quality health index (AQHI) based on multiple ambient air pollutants; (2), this novel index will be used as indicator to determine the association between air pollution and daily health effects such as cardio-respiratory diseases; (3), a risk assessment tool will be developed to communicate the health impact from ambient air pollution to the public at large. A time-series study design with a Conditional Poisson regressing modelling approach that provides a flexible alternative to the case-crossover approach will be implemented. Very little research on effects of air pollution on health has been conducted in South Africa in comparison to other North America and European countries. This study aims to fill in the gap and provide scientific evidence to encourage the South African government to update and strengthen the air quality policy and make air pollution a priority research area.

Keywords: will follow

Short Biography

Temitope Adebayo is enrolled for a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Basel in the chronic disease unit of the Swiss TPH. She has a MSc Public Health degree with specialization in environmental epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Pretoria, South Africa (SA) of which she graduated in the top 5% of her class. She has worked on spatial-temporal dynamic of malaria in SA in collaboration with the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and Aix-Marseille University. Her current research interest is understanding the combined health effects of multiple air pollutants on cardio-respiratory disease in Cape-Town.

Temitope Adebayo-Ojo
Swiss TPH
University of Basel

Personal Website
temitope.adebayo@swisstph.ch

Supervisor: Nino Künzli