Permian Health Lung Institute

The award will support establishing and scaling the first real-time PM2.5 monitoring network in the Gambia and will provide access to fully open data. These efforts will enable the National Environment Agency, one of the awardee’s organizational partners, to set and monitor air quality standards in the country. It will also scale the awardee’s efforts to issue widespread alerts in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

I am honored to receive this EPIC Air Quality award on behalf of the Permian Health Clean Air Initiative. This award will greatly enhance our current efforts to expand nationwide air quality monitoring and support the National Environment Agency and Ministry of Health to incorporate air pollution into national strategic planning and policy making, ultimately improving health outcomes for Gambians.

Dr. Sunkaru Touray, Cofounder, Permian Health

Achievements: 

• Installed the country’s first reference-grade air quality monitor
• A network of 10 low-cost air quality monitors is currently being deployed

What’s next?

• Integration of data onto the OpenAQ platform
• The country’s first air quality report to be released soon
• Air quality standards for Gambian context
• Issue alerts in collaboration with the Ministry of Health
• Sensitization/training programs targeted at health and media professionals
• National event