New WHO air quality rules pile pressure on Kampala

The new guidelines

The guidelines, which are designed to help governments craft air quality regulations, also include other major health and climate-damaging pollutants, both outdoor and indoor, such as PM 10 — particulate matter larger than PM 2.5 — as well as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

The guidelines also highlight good practices for the management of certain types of particulate matter (for example, black carbon/elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, particles originating from sand and dust storms) for which there is currently insufficient quantitative evidence to set air quality guideline levels.

In 2019, more than 90% of the global population lived in areas where concentrations exceeded the 2005 WHO air quality guideline for long term exposure to PM 2.5. Countries with strong policy-driven improvements in air quality have often seen marked reduction in air pollution, whereas declines over the past 30 years were less noticeable in regions with already good air quality.

The WHO says every year, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million premature deaths and result in the loss of millions more healthy years of life. In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections and aggravated asthma. In adults, ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death attributable to outdoor air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of other effects such as diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions. This puts the burden of disease attributable to air pollution on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking.

The WHO says Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change. Improving air quality can enhance climate change mitigation efforts, while reducing emissions will in turn improve air quality.

“By striving to achieve these guideline levels, countries will be both protecting health as well as mitigating global climate change,” the WHO says.

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