How air quality monitors are helping track pollution across five counties

An air quality monitoring device installed along a street collects data used to track pollution levels and identify air quality hotspots. [Courtesy]

An initiative seeking to address air pollution in African cities is using more than 100 monitors across five counties to help residents and authorities track pollution levels and identify hotspots.

The monitors cover Nairobi, Kisumu, Kilifi, Kajiado and Kiambu, collecting readings that can show how air quality varies between neighbourhoods and help identify areas where pollution is concentrated.

The network combines fixed sensors with monitors mounted on boda bodas.

Fixed sensors collect readings from specific locations over time, while devices carried by motorcycle riders gather data along roads and through different neighbourhoods.

Together, the two approaches can provide a broader picture of pollution than measurements from stationary locations alone.

The readings are processed and shared through digital platforms, allowing residents, researchers and county officials to access air quality information.

Artificial intelligence can help analyse the data, identify pollution hotspots and forecast changes in air quality, making it easier to understand patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.

This information can help authorities identify areas requiring closer monitoring and inform decisions on measures to reduce exposure to polluted air.

Residents can also use the readings to understand local air quality, although the data alone does not guarantee that pollution levels will fall.

AirQo, a clean-air technology initiative founded at Makerere University in Uganda in 2015, operates more than 500 monitors across 16 African cities.

Its network provides real-time air quality information to communities with a combined population of more than 30 million, according to the organisation.

The work addresses a major public health concern. Data cited by the initiative estimates that air pollution was the second-leading risk factor for death in Africa in 2019, contributing to about 1.1 million deaths.

The initiative has been named among 15 finalists for the 2026 Earthshot Prize in the Clean Our Air category.

Five winners will be announced at a ceremony in Mumbai on November 17, with each receiving £1 million to support environmental solutions.

In Uganda, the organisation says its work supported the country’s first national air quality regulations and informed traffic-management measures in Kampala.

The experience illustrates how locally collected pollution data can contribute to public policy.

“Air pollution has remained invisible across too many African cities because the data needed to understand it has been scarce,” says founder and lead engineer Professor Bainomugisha.

“AirQo was built in Africa for the realities of African cities, bringing together locally designed monitors, open data and artificial intelligence so that evidence can move from the street into public decisions,” he adds.

The initiative plans to extend its network to 10 additional African cities, with a target of reaching more than 50 cities by 2030.

It is also developing an open-source platform with a conversational artificial intelligence interface to make air quality information easier to access.

The project has received US$6 million in support from organisations including Google.org, the World Bank and the Clean Air Fund.

Established by Prince William in 2020, the Earthshot Prize recognises solutions to major environmental challenges.

This year’s finalists were selected from nearly 7,000 nominations across 169 countries.