Africa: Tackling Health Impacts of Plastic Pollution in Africa

World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa and United Nations Environment Programme have collaborated to galvanize national efforts to reduce environmental threats to health since the adoption of the Libreville Declaration on health and Environment in 2008.

This year, World Environment Day is being marked under the theme"Solutions to plastic pollution". Alexander Mangwiro, UNEP Regional Coordinator for Chemicals, Waste and Air Quality, discusses the threat of plastic pollution and how it can be addressed.Plastic pollution has various negative impacts on health in Africa, affecting both human populations and ecosystems.

In many African cities and villages, improper disposal of plastic waste can create breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. In addition, the burning of plastic waste, a common practice in some regions of Africa, releases harmful pollutants into the air, including toxic gases and particulate matter. Inhaling these pollutants can cause respiratory problems, exacerbate existing respiratory conditions, and contribute to air pollution-related diseases.

Therefore, plastic pollution also has huge environmental and socio-economic consequences, including the degradation of ecosystems. This can have indirect health impacts as it disrupts the balance of ecosystems that provide essential services, such as water purification, carbon sequestration, and disease regulation, and can undermine local economies and livelihoods through food insecurity.

Many African countries have shown strong commitment to beating plastic pollution, especially making progress in reducing their plastic waste. Today, around 30 African countries have banned single-use plastic bags. However, the effectiveness of policies on plastic production, use and waste management needs to be improved as capacity and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of these solutions are still nascent or inexistent.

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