Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review
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, O3, NO2, SO2, and CO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605352/full |
| _version_ | 1797902737528061952 |
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| author | Sasan Faridi Sasan Faridi Michal Krzyzanowski Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Mazen Malkawi Heba Adel Moh’d Safi Fatemeh Yousefian Faramarz Azimi Kazem Naddafi Kazem Naddafi Fatemeh Momeniha Sadegh Niazi Heresh Amini Nino Künzli Nino Künzli Mansour Shamsipour Adel Mokammel Vahid Roostaei Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand |
| author_facet | Sasan Faridi Sasan Faridi Michal Krzyzanowski Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Mazen Malkawi Heba Adel Moh’d Safi Fatemeh Yousefian Faramarz Azimi Kazem Naddafi Kazem Naddafi Fatemeh Momeniha Sadegh Niazi Heresh Amini Nino Künzli Nino Künzli Mansour Shamsipour Adel Mokammel Vahid Roostaei Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand |
| author_sort | Sasan Faridi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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, O3, 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on the NAAQS, we searched several bibliographic databases, hand-searched the relevant papers and reports, and analysed unpublished data on NAAQS in the EMR countries reported from these countries to the WHO/Regional office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment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 μg 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 μg 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:22:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc93d7b378d0460c9544be8df698ede0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-8564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T09:22:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc93d7b378d0460c9544be8df698ede02023-02-20T11:18:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.International Journal of Public Health1661-85642023-02-016810.3389/ijph.2023.16053521605352Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A ReviewSasan Faridi0Sasan Faridi1Michal Krzyzanowski2Aaron J. Cohen3Aaron J. Cohen4Aaron J. Cohen5Mazen Malkawi6Heba Adel Moh’d Safi7Fatemeh Yousefian8Faramarz Azimi9Kazem Naddafi10Kazem Naddafi11Fatemeh Momeniha12Sadegh Niazi13Heresh Amini14Nino Künzli15Nino Künzli16Mansour Shamsipour17Adel Mokammel18Vahid Roostaei19Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand20Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand21Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranEnvironmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United KingdomInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United StatesBoston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United StatesHealth Effects Institute, Boston, MA, United StatesWorld Health Organization/Regional Office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment Unit (WHO/EMR/CHE), Amman, JordanWorld Health Organization/Regional Office of the Eastern Mediterranean/Climate Change, Health and Environment Unit (WHO/EMR/CHE), Amman, JordanDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IranEnvironmental Health Research Center, School of Health and Nutrition, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, IranCenter for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran0Center for Solid Waste Research, Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran1International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Faculty of Science, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, QLD, Australia2Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark3Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland4University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland5Department of Research Methodology and Data Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranCenter for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranObjectives: 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, O3, 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 μg 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 μg 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.https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605352/fullair pollutionEastern Mediterranean Regionair quality standardsair quality guidelinesNAAQS |
| spellingShingle | Sasan Faridi Sasan Faridi Michal Krzyzanowski Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Aaron J. Cohen Mazen Malkawi Heba Adel Moh’d Safi Fatemeh Yousefian Faramarz Azimi Kazem Naddafi Kazem Naddafi Fatemeh Momeniha Sadegh Niazi Heresh Amini Nino Künzli Nino Künzli Mansour Shamsipour Adel Mokammel Vahid Roostaei Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review International Journal of Public Health air pollution Eastern Mediterranean Region air quality standards air quality guidelines NAAQS |
| title | Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review |
| title_full | Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review |
| title_fullStr | Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review |
| title_short | Ambient Air Quality Standards and Policies in Eastern Mediterranean Countries: A Review |
| title_sort | ambient air quality standards and policies in eastern mediterranean countries a review |
| topic | air pollution Eastern Mediterranean Region air quality standards air quality guidelines NAAQS |
| url | https://www.ssph-journal.org/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605352/full |
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