ESTIMATION OF HEALTH IMPACTS CAUSED BY AIR POLLUTION IN THE CITY OF LAHORE

Abstract

Air pollution has been emerged as a major environmental challenge with sever impacts on health and functioning of human society. In recent years, the intensity of its impacts has become more and more pronounced, most notably in developing countries such as Pakistan which lacks adequate air pollution monitoring, protection, and management systems. Epidemiological studies have linked poor air quality conditions with different health disorders and increasing mortality rates. In Pakistan, the annual burden of disease from outdoor air pollution has been estimated to be responsible for around 22,000 premature adult deaths and the loss of around 163,432 DALY. (disability-adjusted life years). The concentration of major air pollutants in Pakistan such as NOx, O3 and PM2.5 have increased significantly over the last two decades. Multiple studies have also reported poor air quality in the major cities of Pakistan exceeding the national guidelines. However, lack of regular ground-based monitoring and absence of baseline studies, the situation in various cities of the country is still largely unknown. This study aims to address that knowledge gap, through detailed assessment of particulate matter of size less than equal to 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in the City of Lahore. Various ground and satellite-based observations have been used throughout this study and their results have been validated through inter-comparisons. In this study, HAZ-SCANNER and filter based low volume sampler is used for the ground based measurements of the PM2.5 at the sampling site. The sampling time was from November 2020 to March 2021. Total of the 118 samples were collected. Maximum concentration recorded was 564.71 and minimum concentration was 6.7 μg/m3. These readings were used to validate the AOD values from the MODIS (Aqua and Terra combine product). The effects of short term and long term exposure of the PM2.5 were also estimated in the form of hospital admissions. Health burden attributable to PM2.5 was estimated by using population health data, the concentration response coefficients recommended by the WHO, the actual measured exposure, and baseline exposures (or counter-factual) on monthly basis during the study period. It is concluded that the AOD can be used as the proxy for PM2.5 pollution and hospital

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admissions were also found in positive association with the concentrations of the particulate matter. There is an urgent need to set up the air quality monitoring network across the Pakistan and data should be made available for the research work and to other stakeholders, as data availability has been identified as the serious issue.