The world's most toxic town: the terrible legacy of Zambia's lead mines

Almost a century of lead mining and smelting has poisoned generations of children in the Copperbelt town of Kabwe in Zambia

• The heavy legacy of lead in the world's most toxic town - in pictures

"I'd like to be a doctor," says seven-year-old Martin, sitting quietly in his modest home in Kabwe, Zambia. But the truth is that Martin struggles with his schoolwork, and his dream seems unlikely to become a reality.

Kabwe is the world's most toxic town, according to pollution experts, where mass lead poisoning has almost certainly damaged the brains and other organs of generations of children - and where children continue to be poisoned every day.