By Moses Ndhaye
Google has earmarked over USD 3m to fund Makerere University to monitor air quality in designated areas in Uganda.
The university will implement this under the Air QO project-an an air monitoring project that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and low-cost technologies to generate and quantify data on air pollution in the designated areas in Uganda.
Google’s Senior Vice President Ruth Porat, while speaking during Google’s first-ever Google for Africa event held virtually said the project will conduct surveillance of air quality in ten cities of Uganda.
She added that this will help to identify the leading cause of air pollution in the country, which is said to be one of the leading causes of premature death.
Professor Engineer Bainomugisha, the Lead AirQo Project, noted that the new funding is a big milestone not only to the project but to the African continent, and it will ensure that more African cities have increased capacity and access to evidence to raise awareness and tackle air pollution.
