Air Pollution and Environmental Health Mark D. Sobsey ENVR 890 Spring, 2007 Some slides are from the following source:
Diseases with Largest Environmental Contributions
Diarrhea Lower respiratory infections Other unintentional injuries Malaria Road traffic injuries COPD Perinatal conditions Ischaemic heart diseases Childhood cluster Lead-caused MMR Drownings HIV/AIDS 0
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
% of Global Disease Burden in DALYs
Environmental Fraction
Non-environmental
Air Pollution and Human Health
Health Impact, by Gender: Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Mortality,
IA P - a t t rib u t a b le C O P D m o rt a lit y ra t e p e r 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 p e o p le
by WHO Subregion, 2002
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
Male Female
AFR
AMR
EMR
EUR
SEAR
WPR
Subregion World Health Report 2002: Reducing risks, promoting health life. WHO, Geneva 2002.
Types of Air Pollution • • • • •
Sulfur Dioxide Particulate Matter Carbon Monoxide Ozone Nitrogen Dioxide and other nitrous oxides • Lead • Hydrocarbons
Sources of Air Pollution • Photochemical Smog – Pollutant sources (emissions) + atmospheric chemical reactions + temperature inversion
• Acid rain – Pollutant sources (emissions) + atmospheric chemical reactions + precipitation (rain) – Sulfuric and nitric acids from dissolution of nitrogenous and sulfurous cds. In water lower create acidic rain and lower pH of natural waters.
Some Examples of AP Health Impact - Ozone
Some Examples of AP Health Impact – Particulate Matter
Some Examples of AP Health Impact – Particulate Matter
Some Examples of AP Health Impact - Lead
Some Examples of AP Health Impact -
Indoor Air Pollution Types and Sources • • • • • • •
Cookstove and heater smoke Furnace emissions Asbestos (from old building materials) Formaldehyde Radon Household chemicals Carbon monoxide (combustion product)
Smoke in the Kitchen Health Impacts of Indoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries UN Commission on Sustainable Development, 14th Session Partnerships Fair, 2 May 2006 Eva Rehfuess Programme on Indoor Air Pollution World Health Organization
Prabir Mallik/The World Bank
What is the problem? • Some 3 billion people rely on solid fuels (e.g. dung, wood, agricultural residues, charcoal, coal) for their basic energy needs. • Cooking and heating with solid fuels leads to high levels of indoor smoke, a complex mix of health-damaging pollutants (including small particles, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides). • Typical small particle levels (PM10) in biomass fuel-using home: 1000+ µg/m3 European Union standard: 50 µg/m3
Nigel Bruce/ITDG
Who is most at risk?
WHO, Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health
What are the health impacts? Health outcome • ALRI (children 800 000 among children • > 500 000 among women
What is the link between indoor smoke and the Millennium Development Goals? "We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected." United Nations Millennium Development Declaration, signed by all 191 Member States of the United Nations in September 2000
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Household Energy
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
What does the World Health Organization do? • Documenting the health burden of indoor air pollution and household energy e.g. assessment of the burden of disease
• Evaluating the effectiveness of technical solutions and their implementation e.g. catalogue of methods; regional training workshops
• Monitoring changes in household energy habits over time e.g. MDG indicator on solid fuel use
• Acting as the global advocate for health as a central component of international/national energy policies
e.g. cost-benefit analysis of household energy interventions; Ministerial side-event on household energy and health
4000 deaths a day from cooking fires? Let's prevent them! CSD-14, New York, Conference Room 2 11 May 2006, 6:15 pm – 7:45 pm
For more information, please contact: Eva Rehfuess Programme on Indoor Air Pollution World Health Organization 1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland Email:
[email protected] http://www.who.int/indoorair Nigel Bruce/ITDG
Air Pollution Global Effects • Ozone Layer Depletion – Chlorofluorocarbons
• Global Warming – Greenhouse gases – Caused by an anthropogenic blanket of carbon dioxide that surrounds the earth and traps heat
The Greenhouse Effect • A natural process that keeps the Earth surface around 30ºC warmer than it would be otherwise. • Without this natural effect Earth will be too cool to support life. • The Earth’s climate is driven by a continuous flow of energy from the sun: - About 30% is immediately scattered back into space - Most of the remaining 70% passes down through the atmosphere to warm the Earth’s surface.
The Greenhouse Effect, Continued • The blockers of this 70% of energy are greenhouse
gases • They avoid the direct escape of this energy directly from the surface to space. • Main greenhouse gases: water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, nitrous oxide, and halocarbons and other industrial gases. - Apart from industrial gases, all occur naturally - Together, they make up less than 1% of the atmosphere - This is enough to produce a natural greenhouse effect that keeps Earth habitable
The enhanced greenhouse effect Levels of all key greenhouse gases are rising as a direct result of human activity. • Emissions from: -carbon dioxide, mainly from burning coal, oil, & natural gas - methane and nitrous oxide (due mainly to agriculture and changes in land use), -ozone (from automobile exhaust fumes and other sources) – - long-lived industrial gases • They are changing how the atmosphere absorbs energy. • This is all happening at an unprecedented speed. • The result is known as the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Reducing Air Pollution • • • •
Energy Transportation Industry ?.....