According to the World Health Organization air pollution is one of the most important environmental risk to health, influencing the burden of disease such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer but also chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including bronchial asthma. For years, WHO has also been alarming about the enormous number of premature deaths that are attributed each year to exposure to air pollution. It is estimated that air pollution is responsible for over 7 million human lives, of which over 4 million are attributed to the exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollutants. Therefore, it is a leading factor determining the global scale of morbidity and mortality not only due to serious diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems or neoplastic diseases, but also significantly affects the reduced quality of life, usually associated with disability caused by chronic disease.
Human exposure to air pollution is not only about direct health effects. It is also a whole series of burdens and economic costs for the world economy and the economies of individual countries. Negative health effects contribute to the increased frequency of seeking medical advice or hospitalizations, and increased use of pharmaceuticals. Chronic diseases result in reduced economic activity in the population and, inter alia, the necessity to resign from work and going on a disability pension or early retirement. As a result there is an increased burden not only on the health care system but also on a social welfare system, not to mention the individual budgets of people suffering from chronic diseases. According to 2016 World Bank estimates, premature deaths cost the world economy about 225 billion of US Dollars in lost labor income and more than 5 trillion USD in lost welfare.
Therefore, the key issue is to strive for the lowest possible concentrations of air pollutants, which will directly reduce the environmental burden of cardiovascular, nervous and respiratory systems diseases, including also upper and lower respiratory infections, but in the long term it will also reduce the risk of neoplastic diseases (including lung cancer). The pursuit of such a state is served, among others, WHO global air quality guidelines, the long-awaited update of which has recently (in September 2021) been released. It should be emphasized that even meeting these very strict guidelines (especially in the context of PM and NO2) does not guarantee the elimination of health risk related to exposure to air pollutants, but this risk is significantly reduced. Unfortunately, at present, as the WHO points out, 99% of the world’s population lives in conditions in which air quality guidelines are not met. Of course, the scale of this problem varies in different countries, but this does not change the fact that the key actions all around the globe should include creating conditions in which it will be possible to minimize the emission of pollutants into the air, and thus reduce exposure and consequently the number of diseases, premature deaths and the resulting burden for the economy.
This collection will be dedicated to the presentation of scientific papers on air quality problems, the influence of air pollutants on human health, the financial burdens resulting from the short- and long-term human exposure to polluted air but also on the environmental, health and economic benefits of improving air quality.
Topic Editor Artur Badyda (Politechnika Warszawska) is a co-owner of two companies: Batterbox Ltd. and Air Analytics Tech IOT Ltd. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
According to the World Health Organization air pollution is one of the most important environmental risk to health, influencing the burden of disease such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer but also chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including bronchial asthma. For years, WHO has also been alarming about the enormous number of premature deaths that are attributed each year to exposure to air pollution. It is estimated that air pollution is responsible for over 7 million human lives, of which over 4 million are attributed to the exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollutants. Therefore, it is a leading factor determining the global scale of morbidity and mortality not only due to serious diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems or neoplastic diseases, but also significantly affects the reduced quality of life, usually associated with disability caused by chronic disease.
Human exposure to air pollution is not only about direct health effects. It is also a whole series of burdens and economic costs for the world economy and the economies of individual countries. Negative health effects contribute to the increased frequency of seeking medical advice or hospitalizations, and increased use of pharmaceuticals. Chronic diseases result in reduced economic activity in the population and, inter alia, the necessity to resign from work and going on a disability pension or early retirement. As a result there is an increased burden not only on the health care system but also on a social welfare system, not to mention the individual budgets of people suffering from chronic diseases. According to 2016 World Bank estimates, premature deaths cost the world economy about 225 billion of US Dollars in lost labor income and more than 5 trillion USD in lost welfare.
Therefore, the key issue is to strive for the lowest possible concentrations of air pollutants, which will directly reduce the environmental burden of cardiovascular, nervous and respiratory systems diseases, including also upper and lower respiratory infections, but in the long term it will also reduce the risk of neoplastic diseases (including lung cancer). The pursuit of such a state is served, among others, WHO global air quality guidelines, the long-awaited update of which has recently (in September 2021) been released. It should be emphasized that even meeting these very strict guidelines (especially in the context of PM and NO2) does not guarantee the elimination of health risk related to exposure to air pollutants, but this risk is significantly reduced. Unfortunately, at present, as the WHO points out, 99% of the world’s population lives in conditions in which air quality guidelines are not met. Of course, the scale of this problem varies in different countries, but this does not change the fact that the key actions all around the globe should include creating conditions in which it will be possible to minimize the emission of pollutants into the air, and thus reduce exposure and consequently the number of diseases, premature deaths and the resulting burden for the economy.
This collection will be dedicated to the presentation of scientific papers on air quality problems, the influence of air pollutants on human health, the financial burdens resulting from the short- and long-term human exposure to polluted air but also on the environmental, health and economic benefits of improving air quality.
Topic Editor Artur Badyda (Politechnika Warszawska) is a co-owner of two companies: Batterbox Ltd. and Air Analytics Tech IOT Ltd. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
