BREATHING OUR LUNGS TO DEATH IN KEJETIA

The Kejetia Bus Terminal (KBT) is located in central Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region of Ghana. The terminal which covers an area of approximately 12 hectares is one of west-Africa’s largest open markets serving tens of thousands of traders who do brisk business everyday all year round.

The KBT is the central point for majority of intra-city transport within Kumasi as well as for inter-city transport. The centrality of the terminal means that thousands of vehicles and passengers use it daily to commute to their various destinations. The huge number of people who use the KBT has created a thriving market where traders deal in a plethora of items.

Apart from its core use as a bus terminal and market, it also serves as home for thousands of homeless people including children who depend on the trading activities within the market to survive. Head porters referred to in local parlance as ‘kayayei’ and cart pushers form the majority of people who use the terminal as homes.

For a considerable number of years, the patronage of the KBT has outgrown its space causing congestion in both vehicular and human traffic. This has been a source of concern for the managers of the terminal-The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.

The waste generated at the KBT is estimated to be 480 tons out of the 1100 tons generated in the Kumasi metropolis daily. Most of the waste generated at the terminal remains uncollected for weeks and this together with emissions from the thousands of vehicles that use the terminal daily, poses significant health and environmental risk, especially air pollution, to the estimated 800,000 people who use the terminal daily.

The high number of vehicular movement in and out of the terminal makes the KBT a receptacle for high levels of emissions from predominantly diesel engines. Majority of the vehicles that use the terminal are pre-owned and a lack of proper maintenance on these vehicles exacerbate the emissions from them.

The Global Health Observatory report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) intimates that Industries, households, cars and trucks emit complex mixtures of air pollutants, many of which are harmful to the human health. The report further reveals that of all of these pollutants, fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human health. Most fine particulate matter comes from fuel combustion, both from mobile sources such as vehicles and from stationary sources such as power plants, industry, households or biomass burning.

The effects of emissions especially from diesel engines on human health have been well documented. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) asserts the existence of evidence pointing to the fact that both long term and short term exposure to these emissions can lead to serious health conditions.   

Fine particulate matter is associated with a broad spectrum of acute and chronic illness, such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular diseases. Worldwide, it is estimated to cause about 16% of lung cancer deaths, 11% of COPD deaths, and more than 20% of ischaemic heart disease and stroke. Particulate matter pollution is an environmental health problem that affects people worldwide, but low- and middle-income countries disproportionately experience this burden and Ghana falls within this bracket.

Monitoring and assessment of population exposure to particulate matter is a prerequisite of an effective health-related air quality management.

The perennial congestion which has typified the KBT over the years, expose the thousands of people who use the terminal daily to these harmful emissions principally fine particulate matter and the health of patrons of the terminal can be compromised both in the short and long term. The design of the terminal is such that, air circulation is poor and current developments around the terminal further compound the already depraved situation. Spaces around the terminal that could be used to decongest the area are fast becoming replete with tall commercial stores which will further attract more people to the terminal and compound the situation.

It is important for the local authorities (KMA) to take environmental health in general very seriously especially air quality since it affects all of us including them. They should collaborate with the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana (EPA) to study the quality of air at the terminal and put together deliberate steps aimed at improving air quality there.

It is incumbent on city authorities not to be driven by inordinate profit seeking but the health and well-being of all patrons of the terminal should be of prime importance. We should not breathe our lungs to death!!!

Acknowledgements

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2002) Health assessment document for diesel engine exhaust.  
2. Greene N.A.and Morris V.R (2006): Assessment Of Public Health Risks Associated With Atmospheric Exposure to PM_2.5 in Washington, DC, USA. Int.Journal of env.res. and Public Health. ISSN 1661-7827.