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Externalities, such as air pollution and increased occupational hazards, resulting from global trends in climate change, rapid industrialization, and rapidly increasing populations are raising global concerns about the associated health risks. The Global Environmental and Occupational Health Hub for Eastern Africa was established to address some of these problems at national and regional levels through focused training and applied research that would yield evidence supporting policies and investments to mitigate risks of increasing environmental threats throughout the Eastern African region. Emphasis has been placed on air pollution, a leading risk factor for global mortality, accounting for over 7 million premature deaths or 8.7% of the 2017 global mortality burden. Despite the enormous disease burden that air pollution causes, global investment in air pollution monitoring and research capacity building in low‐middle and middle‐income countries have been inadequate. This study outlines the activities the Hub has undertaken in planning for and carrying out its initial capacity building and building its primary research programs and identifies central lessons that can inform other large global research partnerships. Plain Language Summary: Air pollution and increased occupational hazards resulting from climate change and rapid industrialization are damaging health. The Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) Hub for Eastern Africa was established to address some of these problems at national and regional levels through training and applied research. This paper describes the activities the Hub has undertaken during its first five years and identifies central lessons that can inform other large global research partnerships. Key Points: Environmental and occupational health challenges remain significant throughout Eastern AfricaThe Eastern Africa GEOHealth Hub is well positioned to build its research and dissemination activitiesThe Hub serves as a model for other large, international research collaborations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the second leading risk factor of premature death in Sub‐Saharan Africa. We use GEOS‐Chem to quantify the effects of (a) trash burning, (b) residential solid‐fuel burning, and (c) open biomass burning (BB) (i.e., landscape fires) on ambient PM2.5 and PM2.5‐attributable mortality in Africa. Using a series of sensitivity simulations, we excluded each of the three combustion sources in each of five African regions. We estimate that in 2017 emissions from these three combustion sources within Africa increased global ambient PM2.5 by 2%, leading to 203,000 (95% confidence interval: 133,000–259,000) premature mortalities yr−1 globally and 167,000 premature mortalities yr−1 in Africa. BB contributes more ambient PM2.5‐related premature mortalities per year (63%) than residential solid‐fuel burning (29%) and trash burning (8%). Open BB in Central Africa leads to the largest number of PM2.5‐attributed mortalities inside the region, while trash burning in North Africa and residential solid‐fuel burning in West Africa contribute the most regional mortalities for each source. Overall, Africa has a unique ambient air pollution profile because natural sources, such as windblown dust and BB, contribute strongly to ambient PM2.5 levels and PM2.5‐related mortality. Air pollution policies may need to focus on taking preventative measures to avoid exposure to ambient PM2.5 from these less‐controllable sources. Plain Language Summary: Air pollution substantially impacts human health in Africa and may continue to get worse in the coming years with population and economic growth and urbanization. In this modeling study, we estimate the health benefits from removing three combustion sources (trash burning, residential biofuel used for home cooking and heating, and open biomass burning) and the regional differences across Africa. Our finding suggests that eliminating these sources in Africa can prevent 167,000 premature mortalities each year in the continent alone and 203,000 deaths globally. The information we provide may help policy makers in developing appropriate policies to mitigate the impacts of air pollution in Africa. Key Points: Three solid‐fuel combustion sources in Africa led to 203,000 annual PM2.5‐attributable premature mortalities globally and 167,700 in AfricaOf the five regions and three sources studied, open biomass burning in Central Africa led to the most PM2.5‐attributed mortalitiesTrash burning contributed the most mortalities in North Africa and residential solid‐fuel burning contributed the most mortalities in West Africa [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]