An overview of ongoing lead exposure in African children and pregnant women

In many developed countries, lead exposure reduction measures undertaken, including the phase-out of leaded petrol, control of the use of lead in paint, stricter measures to reduce para-occupational exposure and public education campaigns, have been followed with dramatic declines in the blood lead levels of children. In many African countries however, such measures were implemented much later, or not at all, and while lowered blood lead distributions have been observed in certain areas, the blood lead concentrations of many groups of African children, particularly the poorest, have remained persistently high.   African children may be simultaneously be exposed to multiple environmental and occupational sources of lead, emanating from the formal, as well as the unregulated informal sectors, including, for example, lead-based paint in homes and schools, para-occupational exposure in lead mining towns, recycling of batteries, the use of lead solder to repair electrical appliances and smelting of lead sinkers in subsistence fishing communities. Home-based or “cottage” industries are a particular concern in this regard, as are certain behavioural practices such as geophagia or pica in pregnant women.   This presentation will describe blood lead distributions in selected groups of African children and pregnant women, and discuss prevailing and emerging risk factors that require further attention in many African settings.