 Yeah, I'm happy to be here and my name is Abdullah Ziraba. I work with the African population and health center based in Nairobi. I'm a researcher at the center, mainly working on issues of public health. And I was invited, I'm not part of Cohesion, so many of you are strangers and this is my first time to be sharing my work, but I'm glad that I was invited. The invitation was excellent to me. We are shifting gears a bit. Yesterday, we were mainly talking about the environment in the context of rural areas. We had about range runs, but today we're going to look at urbanization. And also looking at the southwest in the context of rapid urbanization. We know that Africa is the least urbanized continent in the world, but urbanization is happening at a faster rate than any other part in the world. And it's estimated that by 2050, about 60% of the population in Africa will be living in urban centers. And therefore it is safe to say the future of Africa is urban. Of course, urbanization comes in two ways. We have natural increase. We have, in many countries, we have perpetrators that are way beyond replacement, but we also have a net positive rural urban migration. And this is happening in the context of slow economic growth that is not keeping pace with the provision of amenities. And UN estimates that about 50% of the population on the continent will be living or are living in slum-like conditions where management of solid waste is almost unheard of. And therefore, because of this population growth, solid waste generation is inevitable, is increasing, is unmanaged, and there are no provisions in the future for this. Solid waste broadly comes in three forms. We have municipal waste, and an example of municipal waste is the waste that we generate in households, but also from business places. This waste, many times, is not sorted, and therefore, it's very difficult to manage in terms of disposal. We also have hazardous waste, and this might include things like medical waste from health facilities, from chemical industries, and other industries. And an example of the way biomedical waste is managed in most of the African countries, is managed as general waste. It's disposed of at general dump sites. And in some cases, we've read stories where human pieces of, I mean, pieces of human bodies are being found at dump sites, which is quite a health risk. Industrial waste is another form of waste, and often there are no provisions for disposing industrial waste, partly because it's expensive, or broadly because there is no proper management of industrial waste disposal. Solid waste definitely has implications for environmental health, like we saw yesterday, and one of these challenges is groundwater and surface water contamination. Of course, when the waste goes into the environment, we end up with soil contamination. By the way, I enjoyed the presentation on soil health. There are so many things that we take for granted, but I learned quite a bit. And when I look at this contamination, I could not fathom what kind of impact contamination of the environment through soil is happening. And of course, when solid waste is banned or poorly managed, we end up with air pollution in many countries. The only way solid waste is managed is through burning. And when you burn solid waste, you end up releasing fumes in the environment, especially in the air. Of course, those who live within five, 10 kilometers of dump sites have the daily challenge of having to live with offensive orders from the dump sites. And of course, the land where most of the waste is disposed of is unusable because of the soil contamination that we've just talked about. And when you look at a dump site like Dandora in Kenya, I think since the 1970s, this particular dump site has never stopped burning. There is always burning happening there. There's always decomposition happening there. And therefore, greenhouse gases are also part of the problem, which is contributing global warming and climate change. And of course, these dump sites are also a hotbed for vector-breeding sites which transmit diseases. This is a piece of work that we did a while ago. This is a review where we're trying to look at how solid waste can be conceptualized to lead to negative health impact. And the first cycle, I mean, over-shape of the exposure that we can see in the environment. This could be organic material or inorganic material. And the second over-shape that we have, the mechanism through which the exposure can lead to the health impacts. And here, the health impacts can be infectious diseases. It could be chronic diseases through exposures to carcinogens and other pollutants, such as noxious gases that can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Others are acute poisoning, including cause of burning and allergies, as well as other bodily injuries, including drowning and bodily injuries. As if that's not enough, as you can see in those pictures, we're having the current challenge of climate change. And how is climate change really connected to solid waste? When you look at this site, when it rains, part of this waste is washed downstream and the little drainage that's there gets blocked and then we end up with urban flooding. It's unconceivable that we're having flooding in cities where people die, where houses are washed away, or where sewer lines are flooded and then sewage is washed into neighborhoods and transmission of diseases. And we've had examples of cholera outbreaks in some countries, including Kenya. Zimbabwe last year, I think, was it last year? There was a threat of cholera in there. And of course, these events are leading to poverty and pushing many people to the fringes of the society and of course, that makes solid waste management even a harder task. And to just sum it up all, we are having the challenge of solid waste in the midst of other challenges, including air pollution that's coming from other sources, including factories. We're having water pollution, like I mentioned earlier, and we're having a huge and ever-growing urban population and therefore solid waste generation is going to increase. And that coupled with climate change, we only expect a situation to worsen and we will be having more infectious disease outbreaks, including cholera and a new emerging infections. And of course, with exposure in the environment to noxious agents, we expect the development of more any cities in the environment that we live in. So in summary, we all agree that environmental and eco-health needs to be prioritized and that one health framework. And because of the point I mentioned earlier, the population, urban population is always growing. Solid waste generation is ever-increasing. It's a no-brainer that we need to be looking at urban settings as a priority when we're looking at environmental issues. And one of the advantages that we can get out of working on urban environments is addressing a problem in a concentrated area. For example, if you're looking at addressing an environmental challenge in the Huang area, you need a lot of work to go around geographically to reach all the areas. But if you're looking at a city with a good plan, I think you can address that problem much easier. And also you'll be protecting a much larger population. The population of Huangi, and I'm not saying this is not important, but if you look at the population of Huangi vis-à-vis the population of a city, you'll be looking at a population that is probably 10 times as big. And of course, we also expect that if the population is much smaller, there will be easier delivery of interventions of any form if those interventions are there. And of course, we are also living in a generation where we are advocating for reduction in production of waste whenever possible. We're also looking at the possibility of reusing waste in the case that waste has been sorted and can be made to use, but also we can recycle solid waste. That's what I have to share with you today. And I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you.