The relevance of meteorological data in the fight of radiation related diseases in Uganda
Abstract
People are exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) throughout their entire lives. Exposure to UVR was vital but also posed serious risks which include skin cancer, eye cataracts, immuno suppression, premature aging and many others. This study was intended to find out the relevance of meteorological data (sunshine data or solar energy receipts data) in the fight of radiation diseases. The specific objectives included finding out relationship between meteorological data and ultraviolet radiation on human bodies, to find out the challenges faced by the health sector in fighting radiation related diseases and to establish recommendations for the challenges faced. Primary data was used in collecting data from the field and secondary data was used in analyzing the findings. Both quantitative and qualitative data were used during this study. The methods used for data collection included interviewing, literature review and observation.
Personal UVR exposure is related to ambient UVR as well as to a variety of factors such as the orientation of the exposed anatomical site with respect to the sun and the duration of exposure. Different types of UVR are (UVA 400-315nm), (UVB 315-280nm), (UVC 280-100nm).UVC which has the shortest wave length posses more risks of radiation diseases. A variety of efforts have been made in the past to measure or model the personal UVR exposure of people and often personal UVR exposure has been expressed as the percentage of ambient UVR. In this research, a summary on the different methods, which use ambient UVR measurements to estimate personal UVR exposure of people, as well as a few examples, are given. Advantages and disadvantages will be discussed as well as possibilities and limitations. This also includes an overview of appropriate terminology, units and basic statistic parameters to describe personal UVRexposure.