The study area includes four villages in the vicinity of the Noumoubougou landfill, 30 km from Bamako. The objective is to analyze the evolution of priority diseases in the area from 2015 to 2022. Since its construction, no health monitoring or study has been carried out to analyze the impact of the landfill on the health and well-being of the local population. After collecting, analyzing and applying epidemiological criteria, the study uncovered six notable environmental health phenomena: (i) the treatment of more than 2,969 cases of confirmed severe malaria, with no recorded deaths; (ii) the scissors phenomenon, characterized by a decrease in indicators of various traumas, diarrhea and low ARI, and a simultaneous increase in indicators of malaria and high ARI; (iii) the drastic increase in the indicators of malaria and high ARI between 2017 and 2020; (iv) the collective immunity developed against the covid-19 pandemic before its emergence; (v) the unhealthy environment in and around the open dump, influencing three concentric zones of exposure to malaria; (vi) the construction of unregulated housing within 300 meters of the dump. The study thus established a link between the drastic increase in malaria and ARI indicators in the area and the Noumoubougou landfill as a contributing factor.
The Noumoubougou landfill is located 30 kilometers northeast of Bamako on the Koulikoro road. Its construction has given rise to a great deal of concern, disagreement and even reluctance on the part of the local population. This issue led us to analyze the application of health and safety measures in and around the site. The study covers the period from 2020 to 2022. The methodology focuses on observing the landfill, taking groundwater samples in and around the landfill, and interviewing landfill supervisors. Observations showed that the landfill does not meet the criteria of a compacted controlled landfill, as waste is not covered on a daily basis and is a source of pollution and nuisance. Biomedical and toxicological analyses have confirmed that the groundwater is not polluted by the leachate produced by the landfill. Lack of awareness on the part of users, site supervisors and the local population, lack of compliance by the authorities and insufficient financial resources to ensure the management, operation and monitoring of such a facility are determining factors in the inadequate application of health and safety measures.