Exploring Meteorological Conditions and Human Health Impacts during Two Dust Storm Events in Northern Cape Province, South Africa: Findings and Lessons Learnt

Abstract

Dust storms are meteorological hazards associated with several adverse health impacts including eye irritations, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders, and vehicular road accidents due to poor visibility. This study investigated relations between admissions from a large, public hospital that serves people living in Northern Cape and Free State provinces, South Africa during 2011 to 2017, and meteorological variables (temperature and air quality) during two dust storms, one in October 2014 (spring) and the second in January 2016 (summer), identified from the media as no repository of such events exists for South Africa. Distributed nonlinear lag analysis and wavelet transform analysis were applied to explore the relationships between hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, eye irritation, and motor vehicle accidents; maximum temperature, and two air quality ‘proxy measures,’ aerosol optical depth and Ångström exponent, were used as ground-based air quality data were unavailable. Eye irritation was the most common dust-related hospital admission after both dust storm events. No statistically significant changes in admissions of interest occurred at the time of the two dust storm events, using either of the statistical methods. Several lessons were learnt. For this type of study, ground-based air quality and local wind data are required; alternative statistical methods of analysis should be considered; and a central dust storm repository would help analyze more than two events. Future studies in South Africa are needed to develop a baseline for comparison of future dust storm events and their impacts on human health.