# Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation
## 4 SDS Hazards and Their Mitigation
### SDS Impact Mitigation
Globally, about half of all dryland inhabitants are poor, about a billion people in total, dubbed the \"forgotten billion\" by [PERSON] et al. [109] because they have habitually been neglected in development processes. Many investigations of the health impacts associated with atmospheric soil dust agree that certain sectors of the population in all countries are particularly vulnerable to airborne and respiratory diseases. These include infants, children, pregnant women and the elderly, people with pre-existing heart and lung diseases (e.g., asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and ischemic heart disease) and outdoor workers (e.g., laborers, athletes) in high exposure situations. However, assessments of spatial distributions of human vulnerability to SDS health effects are few and far between. Findings from studies that have been conducted, such as the investigation of Asian dust haze effects on children's respiratory health in Taipei, Taiwan [110], indicate that geographical patterns are heterogeneous and not straightforward. Action that can help to mitigate the health impacts of atmospheric dust relies upon an understanding of how dust exposure is linked to various ailments. Although many of the causal links remain unclear, some trustworthy public health warnings can still be disseminated, such as those shown in Table 3. There is evidence to suggest that such media alerts of poor air quality do result in behavioral changes that lower exposure to air pollutants generally [111]. A similar finding has been reached in assessments of the health impacts associated with a severe dust storm in Australia. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [112] highlighted the importance of Health Alert SMS and emails sent to subscribers to the local health-alert system advising of a high pollution-level event, and [PERSON] et al. [113] concluded that because the dust storm and consequent public health messages had widespread media coverage, the health consequences from this dust event were likely to represent the optimal health outcomes that could be hoped for in similar future events. However, the lack of understanding of causal links that characterize our appreciation of most dust-related ailments may still have an impact on appropriate mitigation advice. The incidence of epidemics in the Sahelian zone, the so-called Meningitis Belt, certainly appears to be related to Saharan dust intrusions brought by the Harmattan [114; 115], but several possible explanations have been proposed for how dust may be linked causally to the epidemics (Table 4). Should the idea that higher meningitistism transmission occurs because people gather together in close proximity during dusty periods, as suggested by [PERSON] [116], prove to be valid, then advice to stay indoors may not be appropriate. In the case of meningitis in West Africa, the need for more research and a better understanding of precisely how major outbreaks are linked to dust haze from the Sahara is clear. This gap is being addressed by the Meningitis Environmental Risk Information Technologies (MERIT) project, an effort supported by several international organizations including WHO, WMO and the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO). MERIT aims to improve current control strategies and provide more timely warnings of the onset of meningitis epidemics [120]. One type of dust storm that is particularly hazardous to transport is the dry thunderstorm (or \"haboob\") characterized by a moving wall of dust that brings atmospheric conditions of near-zero visibility. Forecasts for such storms at spatial scales of a few km are under development [121], but systems designed to warn drivers of dusty conditions on susceptible highways have been used on Interstate routes in the US southwest for several decades [122]. More recently, remotely controlled signs are being replaced by signs linked to in-situ sensors that detect poor-visibility conditions as they form and alert motorists via overhead electronic signs.