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Given the complexity of global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is typical for crisis-focused interventions to have a multiplicity of impacts. Some of these impacts may yield positive or negative externalities for health priorities that do not have the same perceived urgency. The interplay between COVID-19 prevention (a high priority, high perceived urgency issue) and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention (a high priority, low perceived urgency issue) provides a good case in point. By analysing tweets during Nigeria’s COVID-19 lockdowns, we identified avenues for social media to help adapt crisis responses to a wider range of wellbeing concerns.

Emissions inventories are crucial inputs to air quality simulations and represent a major source of uncertainty. Various methods have been adopted to optimise emissions inventories, yet in most cases the methods were only applied to total anthropogenic emissions. We have developed a new approach that updates a priori emission estimates by source sector, which are particularly relevant for policy interventions. At its core is a perturbed emissions ensemble (PEE), constructed by perturbing parameters in an a priori emissions inventory within their respective uncertainty ranges. This PEE is then input to an air quality model to generate an ensemble of forward simulations. By comparing the simulation outputs with observations from a dense network, the initial uncertainty ranges are constrained and a posteriori emission estimates are derived. Using this approach, we were able to derive the transport sector NOX emissions for a study area centred around Beijing in 2016 based on a priori emission estimates for 2013. The absolute emissions were found to be 1.5–9 × 104 Mg, corresponding to a 57–93 % reduction from the 2013 levels, yet the night-time fraction of the emissions was 67–178 % higher. These results provide robust and independent evidence of the trends of traffic emission in the study area between 2013 and 2016 reported by previous studies. We also highlighted the impacts of the chemical mechanisms in the underlying model on the emission estimates derived, which is often neglected in emission optimisation studies. This work paves forward the route for rapid analysis and update of emissions inventories using air quality models and routine in situ observations, underscoring the utility of dense observational networks. It also highlights some gaps in the current distribution of monitoring sites in Beijing which result in an underrepresentation of large point sources of NOX.

This study aims at assessing how riparian zones have been altered through various land use activities and the implications of its capacity to mitigate flood. The study focused mainly on examining the land use/land cover changes within the riparian zone over a period of 20 years. The vulnerability of the riparian zone to flood were analyzed using remote sensing datasets. Flood vulnerability models were created based on the elevation and land cover type. A Euclidean distance (700 m) was created using the shuttle radar topographical mapping (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) of the lake and its riparian zone. The flood attenuation (150 m buffer) and riparian habitat (500 m) zones (areas) within the riparian zone of the lake were then created using the extracted lake boundary. Landsat 7 (for 1999) and 8 (for 2019) covering both zones were classified using the Maximum Likelihood Classification method. The results revealed that the built-up area increased from 2.04 to 4.54 km2 between 1999 and 2019 while water body, grassland, and forest decreased from 0.05 to 0.04 km2, 0.37 to 0.12 km2 and 1.84 to 1.82 km2 over the period of the study. The results further show that about 18.9% of built-up areas were within the very high vulnerability zone of flood as of the year 2019. The results reveal that the riparian area cover is declining in the study area, despite its ecological services in reducing the effect of floods by slowing down runoff, trapping sediments and enhancing infiltration. The pattern of distribution of the land cover classes at different flood vulnerability levels within zones indicates that the more the alteration of both zones’ landscape, the more vulnerable they are to flood. The study concluded that there is a significant level of structural change of the riparian zone which increases its vulnerability level to flooding.

Today, online social media are as ubiquitous as they are inextricable, especially as they have become critical to every aspect of our everyday lives. In the face of this upsurge in social media use, particularly in the adolescent age-group, rates of suicide, attempted suicide, and deliberate self-harm have spiked. This chapter aims to elucidate on current-day definitions of these terminologies as well as their epidemiology regionally and globally. Furthermore, it explores any established causality as well as possible associations and contributory factors such as cyberbullying and substance abuse. The chapter also explores how trending issues such as celebrity suicide and suicide reporting have impacted on the prevalence of suicide and examines its comorbidities. Novel concepts such as the Werther and Papageno effect are highlighted. It explicates on present-day recommendations to curb this menace while also examining the possibilities and merits of using social media as a prohibitive and rehabilitative tool against suicidal behavior.

One of the greatest changes that have occurred in the last century in developing countries is the urban growths which have produced more slums in our cities. The study examines the physical conditions in Makoko, an urban slum in Lagos, Nigeria. Geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies were used, in a post classification, to model possible land use changes in the area overtime. It also uses questionnaires to elicit information on infrastructural and socio-economic characteristics to determine the factors responsible for the physical conditions of Makoko. Findings revealed that the rate of infrastructural provisions are lacking behind and suffer from overstress and dilapidation The residents lack good environmental sanitation as the lagoon emits a pungent smell. It is recommended that the area is entirely restructured so as to create a habitable abode for sustainable residential living. Key words: Slum, urban growth, physical condition, environmental sanitation, GIS/RS and Makoko.

This study makes use of Markov chains modeling to predict sprawl and pattern of land use change in Akure region. Efforts were made to examine the trend of the expansion using Aerial Imagery Interpolation (AII). It focuses on overlaying of Landsat TM imageries of 1986, 2002, 2007 and 2014 to determine the land use changes and extent of expansion between 1985 and 2014. The land use were classified and displayed in colors for better visualization. With the aid of Markov chain modeling, the study made a projection of possible land use area and extent of expansion by the year 2034. Findings revealed continuous expansion in the growth of the city as evident in percentage increase of the built-up area. There were incompatible conversions in land uses and unguided expansions leading to undue encroachment into green areas at the suburbs. It was observed that without appropriate attention to adequate planning for effective measures, the trend of changing agricultural and forested lands to built-up areas will continue to increase with attendant effects on regional environment. Consequently, the study suggests effective zoning strategy and sustainable monitoring measures by different stakeholders in urban planning to check indiscriminate urban expansion in the study area. Key words: Urban sprawl, land-use pattern, markov chains, landsat TM imageries, Aerial Imagery Interpolation (AII).

APHH-Beijing (Atmospheric Pollution and Human Health in a Chinese Megacity) is an international collaborative project to examine the emissions, processes and health effects of air pollution in Beijing. The four research themes of APHH-China are: (1) sources and emissions of urban atmospheric pollution; (2) processes affecting urban atmospheric pollution; (3) exposure science and impacts on health; and (4) interventions and solutions to reduce health impacts. Themes 1 and 2 are closely integrated and support Theme 3, while Themes 1–3 provide scientific data for Theme 4 on the development of cost-effective solutions. A key activity within APHH-Beijing was the two month-long intensive field campaigns at two sites: (i) central Beijing, and (ii) rural Pinggu. The coordinated campaigns provided observations of the atmospheric chemistry and physics in and around Beijing during November–December 2016 and May–June 2017. The campaigns were complemented by numerical air quality modelling and air quality and meteorology data at the 12 national monitoring stations in Beijing. This introduction paper provides an overview of (i) APHH-Beijing programme, (ii) the measurement and modelling activities performed as part of it in Beijing, and (iii) the air quality and meteorological conditions during the two field campaigns. The winter campaign was characterized by high PM2.5 pollution events whereas the summer experienced high ozone pollution events. Air quality was poor during the winter campaign, but less severe than in the same period in 2015 when there were a number of major pollution episodes. PM2.5 levels were relatively low during the summer period, matching the cleanest periods over the previous five years. Synoptic scale meteorological analysis suggests that the greater stagnation and weak southerly circulation in November/December 2016 may have contributed to the poor air quality.

Ancient city centres are characterised by inadequately planned/unplanned land use and unsecured tenure system, leading overtime to the development of different forms and grades of slum in and around urban core area. This research studied the slum in the urban core of Akure, Nigeria deploying tools of Geographic Information System for comprehensive analysis of slum peculiarity for guiding action. Descriptive and analytical methods based on field survey and extraction of information from satellite images were utilized. The study examined the existing situation in the study area in terms of its housing system, conditions of infrastructure, socio-economic status of respondents and adequacy of livelihood with respect to slum indicators as defined by UN-Habitat (2003). The study revealed specific areas of higher degree of slum conditions and a representation of level of changes in land uses. Another finding shows high rate of conversion, mainly from residential land uses to other uses as the major characteristic of land use changes in the area. Poverty has constituted a dominant factor for continued existence of slum conditions due to paucity of employment opportunities. The study further discovered diverse manifestations of slums within a locality attributed to factors such as strong family linkages, structure of property ownership and high level of economic dependency. Economic empowerment through aids and supports for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), development of market network strategy for Akure and development of a comprehensive land use plan that would ensure sustainable growth of the city core area are canvassed.

Public spaces have the potential to produce equitable improvements in population health. This mixed-methods systematic review aims to understand the components of, determinants, risks, and outcomes associated with public space initiatives in African cities. This study will include quantitative and qualitative study designs that describe public space initiatives in African cities with implications for promoting health and wellbeing, particularly through the prevention of noncommunicable diseases. Only studies published after 1990 and that contain primary or secondary data will be included in the review. Literature search strategies will be developed with a medical librarian. We will search PubMed, using both text words and medical subject headings. We will adapt this search to Scopus, Global Health, and Web of Science. This systematic review will adopt a mixed methods analytical approach. Mixing will occur in extracting both qualitative and quantitative findings; in synthesizing findings; and in the analysis where we will integrate the qualitative and quantitative strands. The learnings from this study will contribute to advancing knowledge on noncommunicable disease prevention through public space initiatives in African cities.