Exploring meteorological conditions and human health impacts during two dust storm events in Northern Cape province, South Africa: Findings and lessons learnt

dc.contributor.authorNkosi, Vusumuzi
dc.contributor.authorMathee, Angela
dc.contributor.authorBlesic, Suzana
dc.contributor.authorKapwata, Thandi
dc.contributor.authorKunene, Zamantimande
dc.contributor.authordu Preez, David Jean
dc.contributor.authorGarland, Rebecca M.
dc.contributor.authorWright, Caradee Yael
dc.date.accessioned2022-07-18T07:27:54Z
dc.date.available2022-07-18T07:27:54Z
dc.date.issued2022-03
dc.description.abstractDust storms are meteorological hazards associated with several adverse health impacts including eye irritations, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, and vehicular road accidents due to poor visibility. This study investigated relations between admissions from a large, public hospital that serves people living in Northern Cape and Free State provinces, South Africa during 2011 to 2017, and meteorological variables (temperature and air quality) during two dust storms, one in October 2014 (spring) and the second in January 2016 (summer), identified from the media as no repository of such events exists for South Africa. Distributed nonlinear lag analysis and wavelet transform analysis were applied to explore the relationships between hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, eye irritation, and motor vehicle accidents; maximum temperature, and two air quality ‘proxy measures,’ aerosol optical depth and Ångström exponent, were used as groundbased air quality data were unavailable. Eye irritation was the most common dust-related hospital admission after both dust storm events. No statistically significant changes in admissions of interest occurred at the time of the two dust storm events, using either of the statistical methods. Several lessons were learnt. For this type of study, ground-based air quality and local wind data are required; alternative statistical methods of analysis should be considered; and a central dust storm repository would help analyze more than two events. Future studies in South Africa are needed to develop a baseline for comparison of future dust storm events and their impacts on human health.en_US
dc.description.departmentGeography, Geoinformatics and Meteorologyen_US
dc.description.departmentSchool of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe South African Medical Research Councilen_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphereen_US
dc.identifier.citationNkosi, V.; Mathee, A.; Blesic, S.; Kapwata, T.; Kunene, Z.; du Preez, D.J.; Garland, R.; Wright, C.Y. Exploring Meteorological Conditions and Human Health Impacts during Two Dust Storm Events in Northern Cape Province, South Africa: Findings and Lessons Learnt. Atmosphere 2022, 13, 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13030424.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2073-4433 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3390/atmos13030424
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86275
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMDPIen_US
dc.rights© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution.en_US
dc.subjectAir pollutionen_US
dc.subjectClimate changeen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental healthen_US
dc.subjectHuman well-beingen_US
dc.titleExploring meteorological conditions and human health impacts during two dust storm events in Northern Cape province, South Africa: Findings and lessons learnten_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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