Dietary Intervention to Mitigate Air Pollution Health Effects (DIMAP)

The proposed intervention will address the problem of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among street vendors and other populations vulnerable to air pollution. The respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of air pollution exposure is well documented in the epidemiological literature including from occupational groups exposed to air pollution. We have also observed these adverse health effects among the street vendor population in Accra (Amegah et al. JESEE 2022). Interventions for addressing air pollution exposure centers around advising individuals to limit outdoor activity and avoid highly polluted areas. Among occupational groups this intervention is not feasible because these occupations are usually the only source of livelihood for the workers and cannot heed the advice. There is therefore the urgent need to test nutrition interventions to ascertain whether they can mitigate the effects of air pollution exposure to help safeguard the health of vulnerable populations.