By Purity Christine, 24, Uganda/Kenya
I have been battling asthma and rhinitis for as long as I can remember. Eighteen years of gasping for air, sleepless nights, and painful breaths - all beginning when I was six years old. My mother would tell me about the new manufacturing industries that started operating in Entebbe, Uganda when I was a very young child, and how thick black, grey and brown smoke would swirl in the air in our neighborhood at certain times of day. The doctors wouldn’t be able to give her definitive answers on the development of my respiratory conditions - only vague references to “chemical emissions.” There was little awareness or understanding of how breathing in toxic compounds was affecting children like me, or which specific pollutants I was being exposed to that may have triggered the persistent pain and pressure in my lungs I will feel for the rest of my life.
My mother’s meager salary was spent mostly on medications - Ventolin, Cozith, Salbutamol - to prevent a fatal asthma attack and to keep me comfortable enough to stay in school. She sacrificed food, stability, everything, to ensure I could take another breath and get through the day. But what about the countless children whose families cannot afford this struggle? The millions of chemical compounds in circulation make diagnosis and treatment nearly impossible. Instead of endlessly treating symptoms, why not prevent these pollutants entering our environment in the first place?
Through Kleaner Air, we have installed +50 sensors in Entebbe and Nairobi. This endeavor has enabled us to collect vital data, reaching +50,000 people. This information is used for science-based decision-making, contributing to a 30% reduction in particulate matter and a 25% decrease in nitrogen dioxide levels in these communities. With our monitoring data compelling policymakers to tackle air pollution at its source, we are further reducing the amount of money spent on respiratory illnesses by an estimated 65%.
Purity Christine, 24, Uganda/Kenya
These questions and my years-long frustration about inaction in my community got me thinking about ways I could try to prevent more children from suffering like I have, and more families from being pushed deeper into poverty from doctors’ visits to treat the effects of air pollution exposure. In 2021, while I was studying at Kenyatta University, a class on Computer Science and the Future of AI sparked an idea: I could build something using AI and Internet of Things to help others breathe freely in Entebbe.I wanted to empower my community with their own data, develop a digital platform for real-time air pollution information, and create a network of air monitoring stations that would all be maintained by young people in my community who, like me, were tired of waiting for someone else to come in and advocate for our health. If we delivered our own data and evidence to local authorities, we would be in a much stronger position to demand change. I submitted the project as “Kleaner Air” to the Hack for Earth Youth Hackathon 2022 at COP27 in Egypt, and it emerged among the top three winners, earning me a chance to speak to world leaders and get some visibility on the idea.
By January 2023, Kleaner Air had built a team of 12 dedicated members, including community advocates and youth leaders, and successfully petitioned for the installation of 10 air quality monitors at priority locations in Entebbe, including schools, health facilities, marketplaces, and densely populated neighborhoods impacted by industrial emissions. We got Kleaner Air off the ground by first mobilizing concerned residents and local health workers, then engaging with municipal leaders and the Environmental Health Department in Entebbe, presenting data-backed petitions and personal testimonies to push for the installation of air quality monitors in the most affected areas.
Initial data from our sensors revealed that PM₂.₅ concentrations in several locations, particularly near primary schools and maternal health centers, consistently exceeded 75 to 100 micrograms per cubic meter during peak hours. These readings were significantly above the World Health Organization’s recommended 24-hour mean limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, and far beyond the updated annual guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter. Clinical records from nearby health facilities over the same period documented a notable rise in respiratory infections, asthma-related emergencies, and outpatient visits for breathing difficulties, particularly among children and elderly residents. This alignment between air quality data and healthcare trends provided the first concrete, location-specific evidence that communities were facing direct and measurable harm from prolonged exposure to polluted air.
Later that year, I moved to Nairobi, Kenya, to further my career and studies, and I wanted to expand Kleaner Air’s mission in more urban settings affected by air pollution. I continued to manage and expand Kleaner Air in Entebbe from afar and began to research Nairobi’s air quality challenges in the hopes that I could connect a community here with our technology and data tools. During this period, we also launched a program called Revolutionize Engineering, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering UK, which brought together over 100 youth engineers from Kenyan universities who willingly volunteered to contribute to building the solution. These young innovators helped co-design and assemble affordable, open-source air quality monitors, developed real-time data dashboards, and facilitated educational workshops in local neighborhoods.
During my research in Nairobi, I came across the heartbreaking story of Kamsa while engaging with families in Syokimau who were experiencing frequent respiratory illnesses. His mother, holding back tears, shared how her bright, babbly 2-year-old had suddenly fallen ill. Kamsa was full of life and curiosity, living in Syokimau, a town just south of Nairobi. A nearby dumpsite called Dandora collected all kinds of plastic waste and industrial debris. To make room for more, large piles of this waste were regularly set on fire, releasing thick black smoke that would hang in the air for hours and sting the eyes and noses of everyone that lived nearby. This choking pollution was further intensified by constant emissions from surrounding factories and processing plants which operated without adequate pollution controls, blanketing the area in a near-permanent haze. As much as it disrupted normal life to have to retreat into your home every time the fires burned, and as much as it made your body itch and hurt, dealing with “bad air” several times a week became a part of life and an expectation for the residents of Syokimau.
After one of these dumpsite burning episodes, toddler Kamsa developed an uncontrollable cough that rapidly worsened over several days, turning into desperate gasps for air. His mother watched in helpless horror as his breathing grew more labored, and despite trying to soothe him with home remedies, his condition only got worse. By the time they managed to get him to the hospital, Kamsa had collapsed, his oxygen levels dangerously low from a severe respiratory infection. The doctors tried everything they could, but his tiny lungs, inflamed beyond function, could no longer keep up.
His tragic passing was not an isolated event. It could have easily been me as a child if at any time my medicine had come in too late or my body had reacted differently. This death was a preventable consequence of our collective inaction against air pollution – a silent killer that claims millions of lives worldwide each year, and almost 2,000 young children every single day. In Kenya alone, air pollution is the eighth leading risk factor for premature death, with over 19,000 deaths in 2017 alone.
I knew that there was a major data gap on children’s exposures and air pollution that Kleaner Air could fill in Kenya. Partnering with local ward representatives, community health volunteers, and residents’ associations in affected neighborhoods, I introduced Kleaner Air’s model of community-based air monitoring. With technical support from researchers at the University of Nairobi, policy alignment from NEMA, and the cooperation of Nairobi County’s Public Health and Environment departments, we deployed an initial network of 20 air quality sensors across high-risk areas such as Syokimau, Eastlands, and Industrial Area.
My work in Uganda and Kenya reached the Chemicals and Waste Youth Platform (CWYP), a global network of children and youth like me that come together to advocate for stronger policies on pollution in the United Nations and beyond. CWYP brought me as part of the first youth delegation to the 2023 World Chemicals Conference (ICCM5) in Bonn, Germany, where I shared my story with UN agencies, government delegations, and scientists from every region of the world. I also helped advocate for the inclusion of youth-focused language in the Global Framework on Chemicals that was adopted at the conference, so that the voices and needs of young people could become a permanent feature of global policy discussions on hazardous chemicals and pollution.
For me, this mission is deeply personal. The fight to stop air pollution is a fight for the future of children like Kamsa, who deserve to grow up in an environment where the very air they breathe does not threaten their survival. Youth are already taking action through initiatives like Kleaner Air that not only raise awareness about the dangers of chemical pollutants, but also drive tangible improvements in air quality around the world. It's time the world took notice!
Policymakers must no longer treat clean air as an environmental luxury. It is a matter of life and death, a fundamental human right, and one that must be protected with urgency, equity, and justice. The science is clear. The stories are real. The solutions exist. What’s missing is the will. Invest in local innovations. Enforce environmental protections. Include youth not as tokens, but as partners in the decisions that shape their future. We cannot claim progress while children still die with lungs full of smoke. Clean air must no longer be negotiable – it must be guaranteed.
