Newsrooms are increasingly using data in storytelling to produce better content, empower citizens and promote government accountability. But as many journalists in Africa know, accessing government data can sometimes prove to be a tall order. In some cases, the data doesn’t even exist. …

A project that uses low-cost air quality sensors to monitor air pollution in six major African cities is providing data that journalists are using for the first time to enhance coverage of related health and environmental concerns. Launched in 2017 in response to a lack of data on air quality…

While Gigiri and Kitisuru have maintained the trees and green, leafy vegetation that once characterised the whole area, Ruaka has been stripped of this vegetation. This uncontrolled development in the past five years has had serious consequences. Once a small settlement on the Nairobi-Limuru road located north-west of Nairobi, Ruaka…

Mukurukwa Reuben slum residents have long complained of chest pains and asthma. They blame it on gas and dust emissions from a subsidiary of Bhachu Industries Limited: Accurate Steel Mills. However, the management of Bhachu denied the allegations. Company director Gurveer Bhachu said: “I can confirm that we have all…

It all began when Elizabeth* (not real name), a four-year-old girl, moved with her family from her rural home to live in Nairobi. A few months later, she would suffer from persistent nightly coughs occasioned by an irritable airway. …

Activists use sensor data to prove that factory is exceeding pollution guidelines — As we wait to be let into Maendeleo Learning Centre, smoke drifts over from the chimney of a factory next door. The smoke engulfs the school’s bare fields and pollutes the classrooms, where the last lesson of the day is in progress. Whether inside or outside class, the children and…

By Kirah Theuri and Reshma Mawji Up until very recently, cities in Kenya have not regularly monitored their urban air quality. Early November 2018, I flew to Kisumu — my hometown — to play a small role in changing this. I am a technologist at Code for Africa and, as…

Every time I’m learning something new, one of the first things I do is go to the library. I pick up a cup of tea, find a cozy space, and start browsing the shelves. …

Packets of black, soot-infested air welcomed me as I stepped out of my car, blurring the sight of objects some meters away. My upper and lower eyelids fought back in embrace of each other to protect me from the peppery effect of the air as I consciously tried to separate…