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Gallery|Health

A silent killer: Lead poisoning in Nigeria

Villagers grind rocks to separate the gold, causing dust with lead to settle on soil and expose people to the poison.

A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Niger State, the former breadbasket of Nigeria, is commonly known as a resource-rich territory and mining area. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
By Martin Zinggl
Published On 16 Nov 201616 Nov 2016
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Niger State, Nigeria – Between April and May 2015, 28 children in Kawo and Magiro, two remote villages in Niger State, mysteriously died days after suffering symptoms of convulsions, insomnia and hallucinations.

The local authorities sought help from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has been running a lead poisoning intervention programme in neighbouring Zamfara State over the past five years. The outbreak of lead poisoning in Zamfara State was discovered in 2010. It has killed at least 400 inhabitants, mainly children, who are the most vulnerable owing to access and inadvertent ingestion of contaminated objects.

MSF discovered that the children in Niger State have died owing to extremely high levels of lead in their bodies.

According to Dr Simba Tirima, an environmental scientist who has been following the situation closely over the past six years, the outbreak resulted from unregulated rudimentary processing of lead-rich gold ores in the villages. The villagers grind the rocks in order to separate the gold, and the resulting dust containing high levels of lead settles on soil and other nearby surfaces, exposing the locals to the poison.

MAP: Africa’s natural resources

The miners in Niger State may have encountered the same lead-rich vein found in Zamfara, says Tirima. An estimated 3,000 residents of the two villages have been exposed to the lead.

At more moderate levels, lead poisoning can cause long-term physical and mental health problems, including aggressive behaviour, cognitive impairment and infertility, says Tirima. Once present, it can stay in the body for decades and can even pass through the placenta to an unborn child.

While the collaborative efforts of MSF, TerraGraphis International Foundation and Nigerian authorities have contained the outbreaks in Zamfara and Niger State, the problem for the affected communities is not yet resolved. 

A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
For more than 50 years people mined for gold and other minerals in Niger State. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
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A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
While the contaminated soil has been excavated, the mills in Kawo and Migiru villages used for grinding the ore rocks stay behind as a memory. After more than 50 years of mining and processing of ore rock, the Shikira community has abandoned the practice. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
One of the transmission routes for lead poisoning is food. In the lead-contaminated yards of the villages, rice and other grains are dried on the floor. Lead can enter the body only through the gastrointestinal tract. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
One gramme of gold is worth $12. 'Why work all day long in a shop or on the farm if I can make the same amount of money in only two hours at the mine?' said one miner. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Machines for testing whether the soil is clean, measure the amount of lead in particles per millions. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Ousman, 41, used to be a miner, but ever since he lost his three children to lead poisoning within a timeframe of less than two years, he gave up mining and became a shop vendor. 'The hospital couldn't help, so we went to see the herbalist (a traditional healer), who also didn't help. Therefore my children died…' [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
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A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Machines for testing whether the soil is clean measure the amount of lead in particles per millions. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Lead poisoning can lead to organ failure. Children are most vulnerable to the disease as they might play in contaminated soil and absorb the lead by breathing or eating. In Niger State more than 300 children are affected and need urgent medical attention. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Health promotion is key to understanding the relation between the lead in the ground and the disease of the children. MSF staff regularly explain the transmission routes, prevention and symptoms of lead poisoning to the villagers. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
'It started with fever and having convulsions,' Aina’u, 18, says about her daughter Zabba'u's (1) symptoms of lead poisoning. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Safiya, 30, has already lost two of her children owing to lead poisoning. Her youngest son Hafizu (1) was poisoned twice, but managed to survive. Many villagers blame the behaviour of the poisoned children on a family member who has brought on the anger of ancestors by not respecting cultural traditions. But health authorities have proven that the children were poisoned by lead. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
The only health centre in the area is run by a local man known as 'Dr Sani'. He is a Ministry of Health staff member who treats only patients under five. He administers drugs, makes malaria tests and refers the patients to Kagara hospital, a two-to-three-hour drive away over bumpy mud paths. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
Most parts of the villages can be decontaminated using machines. However, niches, corners and other sensitive areas, such as house yards and places storing food, have to be cleaned by hand. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]
A SILENT KILLER: LEAD POISONING IN NIGERIA / Please Do Not Use
The clean soil is brought to the villages and stored in huge piles until the contaminated soil has been cleared entirely and the remaining ground tested for its cleanliness. Only then will the fresh soil be used to fill the missing layer of earth. [Martin Zinggl/Al Jazeera]


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