Grant Number:	5U01TW010094-10 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Kumie, Abera
Organization:	Addis Ababa University
Project Title:	Global Environmental and Occupational Health Research and Training for Eastern Africa
Fiscal Year:	2026

Abstract We request renewal of an interdisciplinary mentored research program that will be supported by the linked U2R application (2/2: GEOHealth Hub for Research and Training in Eastern Africa – Ethiopia). The linked programs will build on prior successes to advance research addressing air pollution exposure and health effects, and occupational exposure to extreme heat. The Hub will directly benefit the public health of the American people by improving our understanding of the health impacts of air pollution (Aims 3 & 4) and testing new US-developed air quality monitoring technologies (Aims 1 and 2) under air pollution exposure conditions that can reach much higher than in the United States. This project will contribute, for example, to our understanding of how high levels of air pollution exposure affect lung function development in adolescents. It also serves to replicate the pioneering California Children’s Health Study. The first four research aims will assess the impacts of exposure to high levels of air pollution on respiratory health, morbidity, mortality, ambulatory blood pressure, and neurocognitive outcomes, and the impacts of occupational heat stress on renal function and kidney disease. The results will help inform the safety of US air quality standards. The research and training program will be implemented in collaboration with Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia, the Hub institution. Spoke institutions are in Kenya (University of Nairobi) and Uganda (Makerere University). In Aim 1, the Hub will continue three activities from Cycle I, enhanced by longitudinal data collection. Specifically, we propose to continue central site monitoring of air quality (fine particulate matter, or PM2.5) using infrastructure established in Cycle 1; continue collecting hospital mortality and morbidity records for time series studies linking air pollution and health; and re-evaluate the respiratory health of children included in Cycle I (Eastern Africa Children’s Health Study – EACH) to examine the effect of PM2.5 on lung development trajectories. In Aim 2, we will measure personal air pollution exposure in 300 mother-child dyads in each city, supporting modelling of personal exposure to establish a foundation for modelling personal exposure in our entire child cohort and for additional epidemiological studies. Aim 3 involves a cross-sectional assessment of mothers of a subset of children in the EACH study to examine the effects of air pollution on respiratory and reproductive health. In Aim 4, we seek to build on the enhanced capabilities of the Hub investigators to conduct studies designed by each country. In Ethiopia, we will implement a full version of a Cycle 1 pilot study of occupational heat stress and renal function and risk for chronic kidney disease. In Uganda, we will assess ambulatory blood pressure in EACH study children. In Kenya, we will assess neurocognitive function in EACH study children using both test scores and psychometrics. Aim 5 continues the dissemination of study findings to central stakeholders at the local, national, and regional levels to inform policy and regulatory decisions. This proposal promises to generate the evidence needed to support healthier environments and workplaces throughout Eastern Africa with direct benefit to populations in the United States.   Modified