Gulu residents have been urged to desist from activities that might compromise the city's air quality.

Gulu city deputy mayor Angeyo Olok has cited the burning of household garbage such as plastics and the cutting of trees as some of the activities that compromise the quality of air in an environment.

She also says some factories pollute the air, which in turn compromises the air quality and has, therefore, urged the residents to avoid such activities.

Olok's call comes on the heels of a revelation from Makerere University's AirQo branch, through its air quality monitoring machines in Gulu city revealed that the air quality is neither good nor bad, but it is moderate.

AirQo installed those machines in key selected places, including Gulu Main Market, Gulu City Hall, Kasubi, Laroo and recently at Gulu University.

The AirQo-Makerere University released the recent analytical study results before the Gulu City leadership and stakeholders in its recent round of sensitisation visit to the city on Monday.

Gulu University deputy vice-chancellor Prof. David Okello urged the students and staff to engage in good practices that keep the environment safe from pollution.

AirQo in its study indicated that air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk, contributing to more than seven million deaths worldwide every year.

AirQo software engineering lead Martin Bbaale said AirQo is an air monitoring project that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and low-cost technologies to generate and quantify data on air pollution in the designated areas in Uganda.

Bbaale added that the AirQo machine had been nationally approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology since it was launched in 2015.

“The data collected is used to inform public policies on reducing, containing and better management of air pollution and its associated health risks. The same data is also used to raise awareness on air quality issues,” Bbaale said.