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Highlight: Research Chair unites four West African universities in battle against urban pollution, non-communicable diseases

 

Local and regional experts including researchers, consultants, and academics convened in Cotonou, Benin, on February 26, 2015 to launch a Research Chair on EcoHealth. The Chair unites four West African universities that have pledged to reduce air pollution and non-communicable respiratory diseases in the region.

The goal of the Chair is to train specialists in urban pollution, who can then work to improve understanding of these issues in West Africa. Research will be conducted across four countries: Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Côte d'Ivoire. The findings will provide leaders and decision-makers with evidence to inform their policies and actions.

"This Chair is designed to help develop the field of Ecohealth in the sub-region, including improving understanding of urban pollution and its impacts on respiratory non-communicable diseases,” said Benjamin Fayomi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Abomey in Benin.

The intervention component will rely on a program called “healthy-air” to sensitize the public on issues concerning air pollution. The training component will include the inter-university doctoral program in public health, "Ecosystems, Health and Sustainable Development.

Read the article on the EcoHealth Research Chair launch (in French)