Four billboards around Nairobi will bet to live streaming the city’s real-time air pollution in a bid to create awareness amongst the city’s inhabitants.
The initiative by the United Nations Enviroment Program (UNEP) in collaboration with other firms among them Swiss Air Quality Technology company IQair and Safaricom.
In the pilot phase of the program, billboards at Moi Avenue, University Way, Mbagathi way and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) will stream real-time air pollution information relayed by sensors set across various locations in the country.
The sensor will be detecting the amount of some of the most harmful types of air pollutants, fine airborne particles, known as pm2.5.
Exposure to pm2.5 has been associated with health issues, including asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, low birth weight, increased acute respiratory infections, and stroke.
Speaking during the launch of the partnership, IQair CEO Frank Hammes said the initiative will leverage real-time air quality monitoring data, machine learning and data visualization to help identify those that are most affected by global air pollution.
In 2012, three million premature deaths were recorded worldwide 88 percent of them occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
On his part, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa affirmed the telco’s commitment to the course through its vast digital platforms and expansive network infrastructure while fostering engagements with both private and public stakeholders build a compressive and sustainable air quality monitoring system.
