Air pollution is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to global health outcomes. A framework for evaluating the global health related outcomes of outdoor and indoor (household) air pollution in 2005 is presented for the forthcoming Global Energy Assessment. Ambient concentrations of PM2.5 are estimated with a combination of energy models (MESSAGE, GAINS) and the global transport chemistry model TM5. Populations dependent on solid fuels are established with household survey data. Health impacts for outdoor and household air pollution are independently calculated using the fractions of disease that can be attributed to ambient air pollution exposure and solid fuel use. Global population weighted mean average ambient PM2.5 concentration was estimated at 31-35μg/ m3 and more than 80% of the population is seen to exceed the WHO AQGs. In addition, 3.26 billion people were found to use solid fuel for cooking in three regions of Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and Pacific Asia. Outdoor air pollution results in 2.7 million deaths or 23 million DALYs while household air pollution from solid fuel use and related indoor smoke results in 2.1 million deaths or 41.6 million DALYs. The higher morbidity from household air pollution can be attributed to children below the age of 5 in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The burden of air pollution related deaths and DALYs are found to be significantly higher than those suggested by earlier studies, due to overall increases in levels of ambient pollution, solid fuel use and the population at risk.

RAO Shilpa;  CHIRKOV Vadim;  DENTENER Franciscus;  VAN DINGENEN Rita;  PACHAURI Shonali;  PUROHIT Pallav;  AMANN M.;  HEYES Chris;  KINNEY Patrci;  KLIMONT Z.;  RIAHI Keywan;  SCHOEPP Wolfgang;  KOLP P.; 

2012-07-06

SPRINGER

JRC66830

1420-2026,   

http://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10666-012-9317-3,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC66830,   

10.1007/s10666-012-9317-3,