Conakry - 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?
At the beginning dry season, the air quality is quite poor from the burning trash, that has built up throughout the wet season! There is also the Harmattan winds, which brings respiratory problems. It could be bad for an asthmatic or someone with bad environmental allergies. - Sep 2022
Check Airnow.gov for hourly air quality updates for the US Embassy in Conakry. Most of the year the air is fine, objectively better than in most other developing countries. There are moments though in the height of the harmattan season when Sahara dust blows in, and it's really bad for a few days or even weeks at a time. In general the later dry season (Jan to May or so) is the worst air quality, while the rainy season cleans the air nicely. But again, with the exception of a week of Sahara dust now and again, maybe 4 weeks total in the year, air quality is never really that bad. You will have neighbors that sometimes burn garbage upwind from you, and this is unpleasant. You can talk to them (really, I know we don't do that in the States, but you can actually talk to another human being and come to agreement in a tense situation), and over time they'll be embarrassed enough to either burn in a different spot where the smoke doesn't go towards you, or to pony up the $20 a month for garbage pickup service, which is increasingly common now in Conakry. Your Guinean and expat neighbors will also support you on this, and gradually you’ll all pressure that problem neighbor into doing the right thing. - Jun 2021
Bad, in my opinion. Burning trash, car exhaust, and dust in the dry season are problems. Also, housing does not seem to be constructed well with properly fitted doors or windows, so the outside polluted air comes into the house. Get air purifiers. - Nov 2019
Polluted and dusty in the city. - May 2016
Good to moderate. It is really only bad immediately following the rainy season when the harmattan is blowing upcountry and everyone in Conakry is burning trash. - Dec 2014
