LEAD-POISONING OF CHILDREN IN AFRICA .3. KADUNA, NIGERIA

This study investigated the prevalence of elevated blood lead (PbB) le vels in children 1-6 years old in Kaduna, a medium size city in northe rn Nigeria. Mean PbB was found to be 10.6 mu g/dl, and 2% of the child ren had PbB levels greater than 30 mu g/dl. Highest average PbB levels were found in children 5 years old and was attributed to the tendency for this age group to play longer in contaminated outdoor environment s. The strongest associations were found between PbB and whether the f amily owned a car or lived in a house on a tarred road. Potential sour ces of lead in the city as well as household and behavior risk factors likely to result in exposure of children to lead are discussed. This study provides additional data pointing to childhood lead poisoning as being a major public health problem in urban areas of Africa. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science B.V.