African leaders must treat plastic pollution as an urgent public health crisis, write global health specialists Sophie Masika and Lorraine Mugambi-Nyaboga.

[NAIROBI, SciDev.Net] Microplastics are all around us. In the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink.

Those tiny fragments of broken-down plastic waste, are now part of our everyday lives and, alarmingly, our bodies.

This World Environment Day, as the world rallies under the banner of #BeatPlasticPollution, we must confront an urgent, overlooked truth: plastic pollution is not just an environmental issue. It is a full-blown health crisis.

Plastic is everywhere — wrapped around our groceries, woven into our clothes, used to package life-saving medicines. Yet most plastics were never designed to be reused or safely recycled.

Globally, only nine per cent of plastic waste is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, incinerators, or natural ecosystems, where it leaches toxic chemicals into the environment and eventually, into our bodies.

The connection between plastic pollution and adverse health outcomes is no longer hypothetical.

Chemicals such as phthalates and bisphenols, widely used in the production of plastics, are proven to disrupt hormonal balance and increase risks of cardiovascular and reproductive disease.

Across African cities, plastics clog drainage systems, contributing to flooding and the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera.

“Beating plastic pollution is not just about cleaning up beaches or banning plastic bags. It is about reclaiming and restoring the right to breathe clean air, drink safe water, eat uncontaminated food and live in healthy environments.”

In rural areas, open burning of plastic waste releases toxic chemicals linked to cancer, asthma, reproductive and developmental disorders.

At Nairobi’s Dandora dumpsite — a sprawling landfill surrounded by informal settlements — children grow up breathing toxic smoke from burning waste. Many suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses even before they reach school age.

What is less visible — but equally dangerous — is the damage to animal health and welfare, with profound consequences for ecosystems and public health.

Contamination

Microplastic contamination has become a pervasive global issue, affecting both terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Animals across diverse habitats are ingesting microplastics, leading to a range of problems including physical harm, inflammatory responses, chemical exposure through adsorbed contaminants, and even behavioural changes.

Chronic exposure can disrupt population dynamics and key ecosystem functions, as microplastics not only accumulate in individual organisms but also transport pollutants through food webs.

These impacts have direct public health implications. The potential for microplastics to accumulate in animals and move up the food chain raises serious concerns for human health, especially for communities reliant on livestock or seafood for nutrition.

Understanding how animals respond to microplastics, and how that intersects with human exposure, underscores the urgency of adopting a One Health approach that links the health of people, animals, and the planet.

Goats feeding amidst piles of plastic trash on a stream in Kibera slum, Nairobi. Rob Barnes / GRID-Arendal resources library (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Despite steps by countries like Rwanda and Kenya to ban single-use plastics, progress is undermined by weak enforcement, limited alternatives and fragmented regional policies.

Plastic bags continue to circulate in informal markets and multinational manufacturers flood local markets with unrecyclable packaging.

Consumers, left with few choices, are encouraged to recycle as a means to reduce plastic pollution. But the truth is, we cannot recycle our way out of this crisis. Africa needs bold, coordinated, and health-centered leadership to break our dependency on plastic.

What now?

First, we must recognise plastic pollution as a public health emergency. National health strategies should reflect the burden that plastics place on human health and provide targeted protection of the most vulnerable.

Ministries of health must collaborate closely with environment, trade, and urban development sectors to regulate plastic production, use and disposal.

Second, we must strengthen regional and global cooperation to address the fragmented policies that hinder progress.

The proposed East African Community Single-Use Plastics Bill is a promising step towards regional harmonisation.

Meanwhile The Global Plastics Treaty, currently under negotiation, offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure legally binding rules on plastic production and waste management.

For this treaty to benefit Africa, African voices must be at the forefront, advocating for equitable, context-specific, and enforceable measures.

Third, we must invest in sustainable waste management infrastructure. Public funding is needed to build and strengthen safe waste collection and recycling systems and support entrepreneurs developing sustainable packaging alternatives.

Across the continent local innovators are already leading the charge, from researchers in Uganda tackling plastic waste with ‘solar basins’, to ecopreneurs reusing plastic to make fabric in Ghana.

These solutions need scale, support and sustainability through public investment and policy support.

Finally, we must adopt a One Health approach, recognising that human health, animal health, and environmental health are deeply interconnected.

A healthy environment sustains healthy communities. Creating this requires interventions informed by data and made actionable through community-led education and easily available information that helps decision-makers, civil society, and the public to track progress.

Beating plastic pollution is not just about cleaning up beaches or banning plastic bags. It is about reclaiming and restoring the right to breathe clean air, drink safe water, eat uncontaminated food and live in healthy environments.

African leaders must prioritise health over convenience, and justice over inertia. This is not a fight we can afford to delay. The wellbeing of current and future generations depends on the choices we make today.

We must act now.

Sophie Masika is the global health policy manager at World Federation for Animals. Lorraine Mugambi-Nyaboga is chief of party for USAID Tamatisha TB, Centre for Health Solutions, Kenya.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.