Ouagadougou - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the air quality like at post (good/moderate/bad)? Are there seasonal air quality issues? Does the air quality have an impact on health?
Moderate. During Harmattan, air quality is bad. At other times it's dry and dusty and hot. Embassy homes have several portable air filters in them. - Jun 2020
Poor. It is the Sahel and there is a lot of dust and smoke. - Oct 2019
Bad just about year around. - Jul 2019
Poor. A lot of dust. A lot of smoke from open burning and vehicles. - Jul 2019
Good most of the year apart from Harmattan (which can last from November through March). Then it's very dusty and can be very bad especially if you have asthma or other health issues. - Dec 2017
Air quality can be very poor in the dry season (effectively from October to May) due to dust from the harmattan. Everyone told us about dust before we got here, and I admittedly blew them all off. How bad can dust be? Newsflash: Quite bad. The leaves on the green trees in our yard turned an orange color. During the peak hazy season (around December), the dust would hang like fog. I heard it described as nearly as bad as Beijing from a particulate matter standpoint (albeit without the arsenic), which I find hard to believe, but it is still much worse than I anticipated. - May 2016
Air quality varies by season. The dust during the dry season really gets to some people. - Aug 2015
Not bad compared to other West African capitals. The Harmattan blows in in December/January and it gets pretty dusty. There's some burning of trash, etc. Not great for asthmatics. - Jun 2015
For weeks at a time, I feel like there is no blue sky. Sometimes I measure how bad the air is simply by looking up the horizon to see where you finally get the blue to peek through. That problem doesn't really exist when the rain comes, but I miss the rain when it's gone for this very reason! The wind, sand, dirt, burning garbage can make the air a little much. - Jan 2015
The air quality ranges from good to unhealthy. It depends on the time of year as it is, at its worst, during the dry (dusty) season and better during the rainy and early dry season. - Jul 2013
Awful, except for right after it rains. Otherwise you're either dealing with dust or smoke. They burn all their garbage everywhere. - Jul 2013
The air quality is dusty and unhealthy for those with respiratory problems. - Apr 2013
In Ouagadougou, it's very unhealthy. It's very dusty most of the year, and traffic means lots of pollution. Respiratory problems are frequent. - Nov 2012
Not too ba.d - Aug 2010
