By Fanuel James
Faced with a growing public health emergency from choking air, Harare is preparing to deploy 50 low-cost air quality monitors and launch a live pollution dashboard.
The plan was unveiled at the end of a city-to-city learning exchange between Harare and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
The visit, supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded Partnership for Healthy Cities, comes as both cities confront the same killers.
Unchecked urban growth, second-hand vehicle emissions, open waste burning, and household energy use that is turning air into a silent public health crisis.
Head of Public Health Division for Harare Richard Chigerwe, said Harare can no longer rely on estimates.
“Harare is strengthening its surveillance system to address pollution linked to urban growth, transport, waste burning and energy use”.
“The City plans to deploy 50 low-cost monitors, establish a live monitoring dashboard and strengthen systems for data analysis and use of evidence in public health planning.
Overdue Intervention
For Harare residents, the intervention is overdue.
The capital has operated with no official real-time data to warn residents.
Kampala’s Mayor, Ronald Nsubuga Balimwezo, said the visit proves that African cities do not need to wait for the West to solve urban pollution.
He revealed that Kampala has scaled its network from just a handful of sensors five years ago to more than 100 stations today.
This includes 3 reference-grade monitors, backed by a strong public awareness campaign using community outreaches, radio and digital platforms.
“Our cities face similar challenges of urbanisation, pollution, climate change and congestion.
“When we share, we move faster,” Balimwezo said.
Harnessing Technology
The Harare team toured Kampala’s monitoring stations, data-management centre and maintenance workshops.
They were appraised on how KCCA keeps low-cost sensors calibrated in dusty, high-humidity conditions.
AirQo Lead at Makerere University, Prof. Eng. Bainomugisha, whose team built Africa’s largest air quality network, told journalists that data alone is useless if it stays in a lab.
“Monitoring is an essential first step, but data must be made accessible and used to inform actions that clean the air.
“People need to see it on their phones and know what to do,” he said.
For Harare, which envisions itself as “a liveable smart city of choice by 2025”, the move to real-time air quality data could be a game changer.
It will allow for the predicting and prevention of pollution hotspots before they choke the city.
