Environmental Health: Spotlight on Outdoor Air Pollution

Environmental health - aspects of human health, such as quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and physiological factors in the environment A number of cities from developing countries participated in the World Bank's Urban Air Quality Management Strategy in the late 1990s to assess their outdoor air pollution and develop procedures to reduce their carbon footprint. They examined:

• amount and type of pollution

• how it was being dispersed

• the health impacts of reductions in particulate matter

• time and cost to implement reductions

First measures to reduce air pollution:

• unleaded gasoline

• smoke lubricant

• banning of two smoke engines

• natural gas usage

• strict emission inspections

• reducing garbage burning While data is weak on cost-effective approaches to reduce outdoor air pollution, the following measures listed above are a good way to start. Cost effective approaches to reducing air pollution include usage of improved stoves and usage of kerosene or gas (instead of biomass fuels and coal). The following graph depicts WHO regions' amount of fine particulate matter of 10 microns or less. The data of selected cities are shown. While PM2.5 is a more accurate estimate of health risks, most low-middle income countries have not implemented a way to measure PM2.5. Even so, the PM10 measures are still reflective of the air pollution in developing countries.

Statistics: http://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/cities/en/ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-08/10-countries-with-the-worlds-dirtiest-air/5438872 Graph: Ambient Air Database by the Global Health Observatory

http://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/AAP_database_results_2014.pdf?ua=1