The scale of the problem of obstructive lung disease in Africa becomes clearer, but where are the solutions?

If you breathe in toxic air, lung damage will result. In much of sub-Saharan Africa as well as Asia, massive exposures to a range of toxic air from household air pollution, ambient air pollution and occupational exposures occur with consequent rising morbidity and mortality. The headline statistics are extraordinary: globally, in 2015, 2.8 people million died from household air pollution and 4.2 million people from ambient air pollution [1]. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now the third leading cause of death, with 3.2 million deaths worldwide and the same number dying from lower respiratory tract infections [2]. The prevalence of COPD is rising inexorably in Africa [3] but do we really understand the roots of rising tide of COPD and its relationship to air pollution? COPD is a common and important disease in rural Tanzania, and may relate to biomass smoke exposure