The impact of lead (Pb) exposure on the burden of disease in Nigerian children

Exposure to Pb is a major risk factor for several childhood diseases. Therefore, Pb has been removed from many consumer products, including gasoline, paint, and water conduits in industrialized countries. These preventive policies are among the best environmental health intervention strategies ever to be implemented, however they have not spread globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that Pb exposure accounts for 5% of disease burden in some developing countries. The World Bank includes Nigeria on the list of countries targeted for Pb phase-out from gasoline within four years. There is an urgent need to provide compelling evidence to motivate policy makers to establish national abatement out programs. This research provides a foundation for such evidence.; The mean blood lead level (BLL) for children living in semi rural region of Otukpo was found to be 9.4 μg/dL (SD = 4.2, n = 306), with more than 35% of the children exhibiting a BLL above 10 μg/dL, the action level established for the United States. Based on the BLL data, published Relative Risk values, and associated disease burden estimates from the WHO, it was determined that lead exposure accounts for 7–25% of the total disease burden among Nigerian children.; Mean BLL was significantly associated with household size, maternal literacy, parental occupation, home floor type, time spent outside the home, residential proximity to a ceramics shop, and by parental employment in a print shop (p < .05), but not with age, parental education, housing construction type or detachment status, drinking water supply, and frequency of hand-to-mouth behavior.; A Pb abatement program in Nigeria is estimated to cost {dollar}75.6–227 million per year, whereas the health costs of lead exposure are estimated to be {dollar}377 million to {dollar}1.1 billion per year for a 1 μg/dL increase in BLL. If a 16-year lead abatement program is instituted in 2005 to lower the national BLL to 1 μg/dL by 2020, a savings of approximately 17.4–57.3 million DALYs and {dollar}2.7–8.0 billion would be realized. These results demonstrate the pervasiveness of health problems associated with leaded gasoline, and provides a strong cost-based motivation for policy makers to prioritize Pb abatement programs in strategic, national development.