Friday, June 6, 2025
6/6/2025
Landscape fire smoke and birth outcomes in Sub Saharan Africa - Summary Landscape fire smoke and birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa Understanding the effect of landscape fire smoke on pregnancy and child morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa is needed because this is the region most affected by landscape fires, accounting for 70% of the total burned area worldwide. Most fires are agricultural fires (41% of 70% of the burned area), which is distinct from high-income countries. A recent meta-analysis provided suggestive evidence for an increased risk of birthweight reduction, low birthweight, and preterm birth in relation to wildfire smoke during pregnancy. However, the results were inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in methods across studies. Available evidence is dominated by studies from the United States and Brazil. This project is submitted as a 1 year supplement and provides synergies with the CHaracterizing Effects of Air Quality In Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (CHEAQI- MNCH) Research Project. The supplement will enhance and expand upon the CHEAQI aims. CHEAQI, covers air pollution but not specifically landscape fire smoke. We hypothesize that landscape fire smoke is positively associated with adverse birth outcomes independent of ambient PM2.5. More specifically the project aims to quantify the association between landscape fire smoke and birth outcomes in selected cohorts within the HE2AT centre, a DSI Africa Research Hub. In addition, the project will develop a federated data infrastructure to include landscape fire smoke in the CHEAQI database, making it easily accessible for this and future analyses.
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