Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review
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Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries : A Review. / Faridi, Sasan; Krzyzanowski, Michal; Cohen, Aaron J.; Malkawi, Mazen; Safi, Heba Adel Moh'd; Yousefian, Fatemeh; Azimi, Faramarz; Naddafi, Kazem; Momeniha, Fatemeh; Niazi, Sadegh; Amini, Heresh; Kunzli, Nino; Shamsipour, Mansour; Mokammel, Adel; Roostaei, Vahid; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh.
In: International Journal of Public Health, Vol. 68, 1605352, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries
T2 - A Review
AU - Faridi, Sasan
AU - Krzyzanowski, Michal
AU - Cohen, Aaron J.
AU - Malkawi, Mazen
AU - Safi, Heba Adel Moh'd
AU - Yousefian, Fatemeh
AU - Azimi, Faramarz
AU - Naddafi, Kazem
AU - Momeniha, Fatemeh
AU - Niazi, Sadegh
AU - Amini, Heresh
AU - Kunzli, Nino
AU - Shamsipour, Mansour
AU - Mokammel, Adel
AU - Roostaei, Vahid
AU - Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Objectives: National ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are critical tools for controlling air pollution and protecting public health. We designed this study to 1) gather the NAAQS for six classical air pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, O-3, NO2, SO2, and CO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries, 2) compare those with the updated World Health Organizations Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQGs 2021), 3) estimate the potential health benefits of achieving annual PM2.5 NAAQS and WHO AQGs per country, and 4) gather the information on air quality policies and action plans in the EMR countries.Methods: To gather information on the NAAQS, we searched several bibliographic databases, hand-searched the relevant papers and reports, and analysed unpublished data on NAAQS in the EMR countries reported from these countries to the WHO/Regional office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment Unit (WHO/EMR/CHE). To estimate the potential health benefits of reaching the NAAQS and AQG levels for PM2.5, we used the average of ambient PM2.5 exposures in the 22 EMR countries in 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) dataset and AirQ+ software.Results: Almost all of the EMR countries have national ambient air quality standards for the critical air pollutants except Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen. However, the current standards for PM2.5 are up to 10 times higher than the current health-based WHO AQGs. The standards for other considered pollutants exceed AQGs as well. We estimated that the reduction of annual mean PM2.5 exposure level to the AQG level (5 mu g m(-3)) would be associated with a decrease of all natural-cause mortality in adults (age 30+) by 16.9%-42.1% in various EMR countries. All countries would even benefit from the achievement of the Interim Target-2 (25 mu g m(-3)) for annual mean PM2.5: it would reduce all-cause mortality by 3%-37.5%. Less than half of the countries in the Region reported having policies relevant to air quality management, in particular addressing pollution related to sand and desert storms (SDS) such as enhancing the implementation of sustainable land management practices, taking measures to prevent and control the main factors of SDS, and developing early warning systems as tools to combat SDS. Few countries conduct studies on the health effects of air pollution or on a contribution of SDS to pollution levels. Information from air quality monitoring is available for 13 out of the 22 EMR countries.Conclusion: Improvement of air quality management, including international collaboration and prioritization of SDS, supported by an update (or establishment) of NAAQSs and enhanced air quality monitoring are essential elements for reduction of air pollution and its health effects in the EMR.
AB - Objectives: National ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are critical tools for controlling air pollution and protecting public health. We designed this study to 1) gather the NAAQS for six classical air pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, O-3, NO2, SO2, and CO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries, 2) compare those with the updated World Health Organizations Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQGs 2021), 3) estimate the potential health benefits of achieving annual PM2.5 NAAQS and WHO AQGs per country, and 4) gather the information on air quality policies and action plans in the EMR countries.Methods: To gather information on the NAAQS, we searched several bibliographic databases, hand-searched the relevant papers and reports, and analysed unpublished data on NAAQS in the EMR countries reported from these countries to the WHO/Regional office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment Unit (WHO/EMR/CHE). To estimate the potential health benefits of reaching the NAAQS and AQG levels for PM2.5, we used the average of ambient PM2.5 exposures in the 22 EMR countries in 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) dataset and AirQ+ software.Results: Almost all of the EMR countries have national ambient air quality standards for the critical air pollutants except Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen. However, the current standards for PM2.5 are up to 10 times higher than the current health-based WHO AQGs. The standards for other considered pollutants exceed AQGs as well. We estimated that the reduction of annual mean PM2.5 exposure level to the AQG level (5 mu g m(-3)) would be associated with a decrease of all natural-cause mortality in adults (age 30+) by 16.9%-42.1% in various EMR countries. All countries would even benefit from the achievement of the Interim Target-2 (25 mu g m(-3)) for annual mean PM2.5: it would reduce all-cause mortality by 3%-37.5%. Less than half of the countries in the Region reported having policies relevant to air quality management, in particular addressing pollution related to sand and desert storms (SDS) such as enhancing the implementation of sustainable land management practices, taking measures to prevent and control the main factors of SDS, and developing early warning systems as tools to combat SDS. Few countries conduct studies on the health effects of air pollution or on a contribution of SDS to pollution levels. Information from air quality monitoring is available for 13 out of the 22 EMR countries.Conclusion: Improvement of air quality management, including international collaboration and prioritization of SDS, supported by an update (or establishment) of NAAQSs and enhanced air quality monitoring are essential elements for reduction of air pollution and its health effects in the EMR.
KW - air pollution
KW - Eastern Mediterranean Region
KW - air quality standards
KW - air quality guidelines
KW - NAAQS
KW - POLLUTION
KW - TIME
U2 - 10.3389/ijph.2023.1605352
DO - 10.3389/ijph.2023.1605352
M3 - Review
C2 - 36891223
VL - 68
JO - International Journal of Public Health (Print Edition)
JF - International Journal of Public Health (Print Edition)
SN - 1661-8556
M1 - 1605352
ER -
ID: 342058126