M. Fatima, I. Butt, Muhammad Nasar-u-Minallah, Asad Atta, Gong Cheng
{"title":"Assessment Of Air Pollution And Its Association With Population Health: Geo-Statistical Evidence From Pakistan","authors":"M. Fatima, I. Butt, Muhammad Nasar-u-Minallah, Asad Atta, Gong Cheng","doi":"10.24057/2071-9388-2022-155","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Human health is harmed by air pollution. The objective of this research was to show that air pollution in Pakistan is getting worse and is negatively impacting people’s health. IQ Air and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation provided the data for this descriptive research. Monthly data of PM2.5 μg/m³ from ten different localities across Pakistan are used to show spatial distribution through the geospatial technique of interpolation. The findings show that two third of the country has high PM2.5 concentration, with Lahore as the most polluted city. In Pakistan, solid fuel use has decreased, leading to a decline in associated mortality and morbidity. However, there have been significant increases in PM2.5 and ozone levels, resulting in a rise in the country’s overall health burden caused by air pollution. Furthermore, the number of deaths attributed to air pollution has also increased since 1990. A total of 57% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 40% of lower respiratory infections, 36% of ischemic stroke, 35% of ischemic heart diseases, 32% of lung cancer, 25% of diabetes, and 20% of neonatal outcomes are directly attributed to air pollution in Pakistan. The main contributors to air pollution are population growth, growing motorization, and unsustainable energy usage. The main challenges due to air pollution control and monitoring in Pakistan include a lack of awareness, poor policy creation and implementation, the use of improper fuel, rising energy demands, and an absence of pollution monitoring stations in most cities. Therefore, there is a need for a robust air pollution monitoring system, increased public awareness, and the implementation of clean and sustainable policies to regulate this environmental health issue. ","PeriodicalId":37517,"journal":{"name":"Geography, Environment, Sustainability","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geography, Environment, Sustainability","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2022-155","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Agricultural and Biological Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Human health is harmed by air pollution. The objective of this research was to show that air pollution in Pakistan is getting worse and is negatively impacting people’s health. IQ Air and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation provided the data for this descriptive research. Monthly data of PM2.5 μg/m³ from ten different localities across Pakistan are used to show spatial distribution through the geospatial technique of interpolation. The findings show that two third of the country has high PM2.5 concentration, with Lahore as the most polluted city. In Pakistan, solid fuel use has decreased, leading to a decline in associated mortality and morbidity. However, there have been significant increases in PM2.5 and ozone levels, resulting in a rise in the country’s overall health burden caused by air pollution. Furthermore, the number of deaths attributed to air pollution has also increased since 1990. A total of 57% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 40% of lower respiratory infections, 36% of ischemic stroke, 35% of ischemic heart diseases, 32% of lung cancer, 25% of diabetes, and 20% of neonatal outcomes are directly attributed to air pollution in Pakistan. The main contributors to air pollution are population growth, growing motorization, and unsustainable energy usage. The main challenges due to air pollution control and monitoring in Pakistan include a lack of awareness, poor policy creation and implementation, the use of improper fuel, rising energy demands, and an absence of pollution monitoring stations in most cities. Therefore, there is a need for a robust air pollution monitoring system, increased public awareness, and the implementation of clean and sustainable policies to regulate this environmental health issue.
期刊介绍:
Journal “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” is founded by the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University, The Russian Geographical Society and by the Institute of Geography of RAS. It is the official journal of Russian Geographical Society, and a fully open access journal. Journal “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” publishes original, innovative, interdisciplinary and timely research letter articles and concise reviews on studies of the Earth and its environment scientific field. This goal covers a broad spectrum of scientific research areas (physical-, social-, economic-, cultural geography, environmental sciences and sustainable development) and also considers contemporary and widely used research methods, such as geoinformatics, cartography, remote sensing (including from space), geophysics, geochemistry, etc. “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” is the only original English-language journal in the field of geography and environmental sciences published in Russia. It is supposed to be an outlet from the Russian-speaking countries to Europe and an inlet from Europe to the Russian-speaking countries regarding environmental and Earth sciences, geography and sustainability. The main sections of the journal are the theory of geography and ecology, the theory of sustainable development, use of natural resources, natural resources assessment, global and regional changes of environment and climate, social-economical geography, ecological regional planning, sustainable regional development, applied aspects of geography and ecology, geoinformatics and ecological cartography, ecological problems of oil and gas sector, nature conservations, health and environment, and education for sustainable development. Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.