WHO global air quality guidelines





Clean air is fundamental to health. Compared to 15 years ago, when the previous edition of these guidelines was published, there is now a much stronger body of evidence to show how air pollution affects different aspects of health at even lower concentrations than previously understood. But here’s what hasn’t changed: every year, exposure to air pollution is still estimated to cause millions of deaths and the loss of healthy years of life.

The burden of disease attributable to air pollution is now estimated to be on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diets and tobacco smoking. In 2015, the World Health Assembly adopted a landmark resolution on air quality and health, recognizing air pollution as a risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and cancer, and the economic toll they take. The global nature of the challenge calls for an enhanced global response.

  1. Access the guidelines
  2. Access the Executive summary
  3. Read more about air quality and health

Read the full WHO global air quality guidelines: particulate matter (‎PM2.5 and PM10)‎, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide provided by Air Quality, Energy and Health (AQE), Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in WPR (ACE), Centre for Environment & Health (BON), Environment, Climate Change and Health (ECH), Guidelines Review Committee

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annual meeting of the Joint Task Force on Health Aspects of Air Pollution (2025).

Image
The 2025 annual meeting of the Joint Task Force on the Health Aspects of Air Pollution gathered virtually 50 participants representing 27 Member States and 4 intergovernmental organizations to share information and updates or air quality and health and to review recent progress in the health risk assessment of air pollution under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (UNECE Air Convention). Air pollution in an evolving context The Head of the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Ms Francesca Racioppi, opened the meeting by pointing to the increased attention to air quality following the Second WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health (March 2025) and the adoption by the World Health Assembly of the Updated road map for an enhanced global response to the adverse health effects of air pollution (May 2025). The road map includes a voluntary target to halve the health impacts from anthropogenic air pol...
Read more

Over the last few decades, countries worldwide have come together to stop the dangerous effects of transboundary air pollution.

Image
Organizations and Institutions involved in the in the fight to stop the dangerous effects of transboundary air pollution are:  The UN ESCAP Regional Action Programme on Air Pollution; The UN ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP); The European Union Legislation; The Intergovernmental Network on Atmospheric Pollution for Latin America and Caribbean (LAC); The US-Canada Air Quality Agreement; The West Asia Air Quality Network (WAAQN); The Eastern Africa Regional Framework Agreement on Air Pollution (Nairobi Agreement); The Arctic Council; The Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and Its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia (Malé Declaration); The North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC); The West and Central Africa Regional Framework Agreement on Air Pollution (Abidjan Agreement); The Lusaka Agreement to develop a Southern African Development Community Regional Policy Framework on Air Pol...
Read more