Diarrheal diseases are the second leading cause of child mortality worldwide, occurring in about one in every nine child deaths, and were associated with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) access. In this study, we provided an overview of WASH indicators' evolution from 2000 to 2017 and their impact on the occurrence of diarrhea in children under 5 years old in Senegal. It was a retrospective cross-sectional study, in which we did a secondary analysis of data from the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for water supply and sanitation and from the Senegal Demographic and Health Survey 2018. Our results showed that access to safely managed services increased by 18.1 and 19.1%, respectively, for water and sanitation. The prevalence of diarrhea estimated at 18.16% was associated with straining water through a cloth (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.21 [1.00–1.45]) and getting water supplies from a source not located in a dwelling (AOR [95% CI]: 1.59 [1.21–2.09]). The prevalence of diarrhea among children under 5 years old was still relatively high in Senegal and was significantly associated with a lack of WASH access. Although the latter continues to increase, additional efforts to make water safer to drink will significantly reduce the occurrence of diarrheal diseases among children under 5 years old in Senegal.

Background: One out of ten deaths of children under five are attributable to indoor air pollution. And Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI) is among the direct causes. Objective: This study showed the possibilities of characterizing indoor air pollution in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area and it also made it possible to estimate its impact on the occurrence of ARI in children under five. Methods: It has been a secondary analysis based on Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) from WAEMU countries’ data.. “Household level of air pollution” is the created composite variable, from questions on the degradation factors of indoor air quality (domestic combustion processes) which served to characterize indoor air pollution and to measure its impact by a logistic regression. Results: Burkina Faso stands out with a greater number of households with a high level of pollution (63.7%) followed by Benin (43.7%) then Togo (43.0%). The main exposure factor "Household level of air pollution" was associated with ARI symptoms (Togo: prevalence = 51.3%; chi-squared test’s p-value < 0.001). Exposure to high level of pollution constitutes a risk (AOR [95 CI]), even though it is not significant ( Ivory Coast: 1.29 [0.72–2.30], Senegal: 1.39 [0.94–2.05] and Togo: 1.15 [0.67–1.95]) and this could be explained by the high infectious etiology of the ARI.

Outdoor air pollution is the underlying cause of 4.2 million premature deaths per year, of which some 18% were due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 23% due to acute lower respiratory tract infections (IRI). In West African countries, anthropogenic sources of air pollution are concentrated near residential areas, thus exposing populations to high risks of adverse effects. In order to stimulate the implementation of policies to reduce population exposure, this study aimed to describe outdoor air pollution in Dakar (Senegal) and to estimate its health impact. The description was made by comparing the annual averages of various pollutants (NO₂, SO₂, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) to guideline values ​​and on the other hand by converting the monthly averages into time-series which trends and seasonality are described using the R software. The impact was estimated with AirQ⁺ software by calculating the number of specific health outcomes (hospital admissions for respiratory diseases and all-cause mortality) from short-term exposure to outdoor air pollutants’ levels above the threshold of 10 ug/m³. Monthly levels follow a linear trend (except that of NO₂), with a seasonal component. Pollution peaks are always observed in the December-January-February quarter, while the lowest levels are observed in the July-August-September quarter. Moreover, the annual levels are all above the guideline values, except for SO₂. Between 2016 and 2018, and for all ages combined, 1379 (13.38%) cases of hospital admission for respiratory diseases can be attributed to short-term exposure to PM₁₀. The latter is also the underlying cause of 315 (7.48%) non-accident deaths noted in 2017. Air pollution is a real problem in Dakar in view of the level of indicators. With regard to their health impact, a more exhaustive and more robust estimation would be very useful for better exposure reduction policies. To this end, air quality monitoring and health data management could be improved.

Indoor air pollution constitutes a public health problem due to the long time that individuals spend in enclosed spaces every day. The present study aims to investigate the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air in households in Senegal, and to assess health risks related to residents’ exposure. Of the 17 VOCs identified, 16 were detected in Medina accommodations versus 14 in Darou Khoudoss. Toluene levels reached 70.9 μg/m³ in Medina and 18.5 μg/m³ in Darou Khoudoss, which were the highest compared to other compounds. The sum of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, o-Xylene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene concentrations were two times higher in Medina (79.57 µg/m³ versus 37.1 µg/m³). Furthermore, VOCs were found at higher levels in living rooms compared to other living spaces. The highest benzene and acetone concentrations were estimated at 13.6 µg/m³ and 8.4 µg/m³, respectively, in households where incense was burnt daily, while the highest formaldehyde levels were observed in households using incense seasonally (6.8 µg/m³). As regards the health risks associated with exposure of residents, the lifetime cancer risks were all above the WHO tolerable limit (10⁻⁵–10⁻⁶). Exposure to benzene (8.5 µg/m³) associated with a lifetime risk of leukemia (51.3 per million people exposed) was higher in Darou Khoudoss, while the risk of nasopharyngeal cancer (600 per million people exposed) associated with exposure to formaldehyde (4.23 µg/m³) was higher in Medina.

Background One in ten deaths of children under five are attributable to indoor air pollution, and Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI) are a direct cause. Objective This study made it possible to characterize indoor air pollution in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area and to estimate its impact on occurrence of ARI in children under five. Methods This is a secondary analysis on dataset from WAEMU member states’ Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Pollution is characterized by using a composite variable called “Household level of air pollution”, created from questions related to degradation factors of indoor air quality (domestic combustion processes) and impact measurement was carried out by logistic regression. Results Burkina Faso stands out with a greater number of households with a high level of pollution (63.7%) followed by Benin (43.7%) then Togo (43.0%). The main exposure factor "Household level of air pollution" was only associated with ARI in Togo (prevalence: 51.3%; chi-2: p-value < 0.001). Exposure to high level of pollution constitutes an excess risk, although it is not significant (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 1.13, 95% [0.66–1.92]) and this could be explained by the highly infectious etiology of the ARI.