Ambient Air Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa: An

An important aspect of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a greater emphasis on 9 reducing the health impacts of urban ambient air pollution (AAP) in developing countries. Meanwhile, 10 the burden of disease attributable to AAP in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is growing, yet estimates of its 11 impact in the region are likely underestimated due to a lack of air quality monitoring, the paucity of 12 epidemiological studies, and important population vulnerabilities in the region. The lack of studies in the 13 SSA region also represents an important global health disparity and environmental justice issue because 14 thousands of air pollution health effects studies have been conducted in Europe and North America rather 15 than in some of the most polluted regions of the world, such as SSA. In this review, we synthesize all of 16 the ambient air pollution epidemiological studies that have been conducted in SSA to date. We highlight 17 the gaps in AAP epidemiological studies conducted in different sub-regions of SSA and provide 18 methodological recommendations for future environmental epidemiology studies addressing AAP in the 19 SSA region. 20