The GEOHealth Hub for Eastern Africa: Contributions and Lessons Learned

Wipfli, Heather; Kumie, Abera; Atuyambe, Lynn; Oguge, Otienoh; Rugigana, Etienne; Zacharias, Kristin; Simane, Belay; Samet, Jonathan; Berhane, Kiros

Externalities, such as air pollution and increased occupational hazards, resulting from global trends in climate change, rapid industrialization, and rapidly increasing populations are raising global concerns about the associated health risks. The Global Environmental and Occupational Health Hub for Eastern Africa was established to address some of these problems at national and regional levels through focused training and applied research that would yield evidence supporting policies and investments to mitigate risks of increasing environmental threats throughout the Eastern African region. Emphasis has been placed on air pollution, a leading risk factor for global mortality, accounting for over 7 million premature deaths or 8.7% of the 2017 global mortality burden. Despite the enormous disease burden that air pollution causes, global investment in air pollution monitoring and research capacity building in low‐middle and middle‐income countries have been inadequate. This study outlines the activities the Hub has undertaken in planning for and carrying out its initial capacity building and building its primary research programs and identifies central lessons that can inform other large global research partnerships.