title: Status of pharmaceuticals in African water bodies: Occurrence, removal and analytical methods.
abstract: In this review paper, the milestones and challenges that have been achieved and experienced by African Environmental Scientists regarding the assessment of water pollution caused by the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in water bodies are highlighted. The identification and quantification of pharmaceuticals in the African water bodies is important to the general public at large due to the lack of information. The consumption of pharmaceuticals to promote human health is usually followed by excretion of these drugs via urine or fecal matter due to their slight transformation in the human metabolism. Therefore, large amounts of pharmaceuticals are being discharged continuously from wastewater treatment plants into African rivers due to inefficiency of employed sewage treatment processes. Large portions of African communities do not even have proper sanitation systems which results in direct contamination of water resources with human waste that contains pharmaceutical constituents among other pollutants. Therefore, this article provides the overview of the recent studies published, mostly from 2012 to 2016, that have focused on the occurrence of different classes of pharmaceuticals in African aqueous systems. Also, the current analytical methods that are being used in Africa for pharmaceutical quantification in environmental waters are highlighted. African Scientists have started to investigate the materials and remediation processes for the elimination of pharmaceuticals from water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Durban University of Technology, P O Box 1334, Durban, 4000, South Africa; Molecular Sciences Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa. Electronic address: lawrencem2@dut.ac.za.
authors.forename: Lawrence Mzukisi
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Madikizela
authors.affiliation: Molecular Sciences Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa.
authors.forename: Nikita Tawanda
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Tavengwa
authors.affiliation: Molecular Sciences Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chimuka
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D045483:Rivers; D062065:Wastewater; D014867:Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D062065:Wastewater; D014867:Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Africa; Aqueous samples; Environment; Pharmaceuticals; Wastewater treatment plants