However, the outdoor static monitoring network does not represent individuals’ exposure and is not designed to provide information about indoor exposures or to support the ‘personalisation’ of air quality data (i.e. Īir quality policy is assessed and evaluated based on data from traditional static monitoring stations which undergo rigorous calibration and maintenance to ensure the output data are highly accurate, precise and comparable. While public policy remains a key strategy for reducing air pollution, individual actions can play a vital and complementary role in placing the individual in control to reduce their exposure to air pollution. For example, in 2017 the UK government announced the ban of the sale of diesel and petrol cars in the UK by 2040, over 20 years after its conceptualisation, and only recently (in 2020) have brought this forward to 2030. However, public policy as an air quality improvement strategy can be problematic most policies designed to reduce air pollution focus on outdoor spaces rather than indoor environments where people spend most of their time and public policies are more often very slow to take effect. Similarly, the State Council of China’s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan introduced in 2013, successfully reduced annual average concentrations of PM 2.5, SO 2 and CO by 33%, 54% and 28%, respectively, resulting in an estimated 47,000 fewer deaths by 2017. For example, the 1979 UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution has reduced emissions of harmful pollutants by between 40 and 80% and prevented 600,000 premature deaths every year since 1990 in Europe and North America. Public policy is a key strategy for improving air quality and people’s air pollution-related health. Acknowledging the importance of good air quality for health, the environment, society and the economy, the United Nations has incorporated improving air quality into its Sustainable Development Goals, namely within SDG 3 (Health and Wellbeing), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Societies). Sources of air pollution are numerous and include industry, transport, households, other human activities and natural sources. The health effects associated with exposure to air pollution include acute health impacts such as asthma attacks, and more chronic illnesses such as stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Based on this, we present a novel framework, which, when used to shape air quality interventions, has the potential to yield more effective and sustainable interventions to reduce individual exposures and thus reduce the global public health burden of air pollution.Īir pollution is the world’s greatest single environmental health threat, resulting in an estimated 7 million premature deaths globally every year. We examine the health behaviour theoretical steps linking air quality data with reduced air pollution exposure and (consequently) improved public health, arguing that a combination of more ‘personalised’ air quality data and greater public engagement with these data will together better support individual action. Here we explore, with reference to health behaviour theories, why these are frequently insufficient to instigate individual change. Air quality indices (AQI) are used globally (though not universally) to translate complex air quality data into a single unitless metric, which can be paired with advice to encourage behaviour change. Individual actions can therefore supplement policy measures and more immediately reduce people’s exposure to air pollution. Policy measures designed to reduce emissions of pollutants, improve ambient air and consequently reduce health impacts, can be effective, but are generally slow to generate change. Exposure to air pollution prematurely kills 7 million people globally every year.
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