Healthy Lungs and Heart for Life at the WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health
In March 2025, Healthy Lungs and Heart for Life will be in Cartagena, Colombia, as part of the WHO Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health. This conference will bring together international experts, policymakers, healthcare professionals and local communities to discuss the urgent issue of air pollution and its impacts on health, climate and sustainability.
We are proud to work alongside WHO, whose leadership in global health makes this event a key moment to drive meaningful change and strengthen HLfL’s global presence and our dedication to addressing the shared burden of air pollution on health.
Healthy Lungs and Heart for Life, in collaboration with the European Lung Foundation and European Respiratory Society and supported by WHF Member La Liga Colombiana Contra El Infarto y la Hipertension, marks the first time the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign has partnered to address both lung and heart health. It also provides an opportunity and platform to highlight the importance of addressing air pollution’s impact beyond the lungs and emphasises the power of cross-disease efforts to combat this global crisis.
Together, we will raise awareness of the shared impact of air pollution on the lungs and heart, offering free health tests to the public.
Free lung and heart health checks
At the Cartagena public event, our teams will offer two free health tests to help the public understand how air pollution affects our body. These free tests will be available to the public at Parque Centenario on 25-26 March.
25-26 March 2025
Parque Centenario
15:30 – 19:00
In addition to free health tests, visitors can:
- Learn from our on-site experts about the steps we can take to protect lung and heart health.
- Explore a series of infographics in English and Spanish, explaining the effects of air pollution.
- Join the conversation about clean air, public health and the urgent need for policy change.
Air pollution is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and a major contributor to the global burden of disease. In 2019, an estimated 6.7 million deaths, or 12 percent of all deaths worldwide, were attributable to outdoor or household air pollution. As many as half of these were due to cardiovascular disease, followed by diseases of the lungs and respiratory system (some 68% of outdoor air pollution related premature deaths were due to ischaemic heart disease and stroke, 14% were due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 14% were due to acute lower respiratory infections, and 4% of deaths were due to lung cancers).
WHO 2025
Testing your lungs: spirometry
A spirometry test measures how healthy your lungs are and can be used to help diagnose and monitor lung conditions. During the test, you will breathe out as much air as you can, as hard as you can, into a device called a spirometer. The test measures how much air you can blow out in total and how much air you can blow out in the first second of the test. The test should not be painful and usually takes less than 10 minutes. Visit the HLHfL page to learn more.
Testing your heart: pulse oximetry
Blood oxygen level testing (pulse oximetry) is a quick test that measures the oxygen levels in your blood using a small fingertip device. Low oxygen levels can indicate that air pollution is affecting your heart and lungs, making it an important tool for understanding the broader impact of air quality on your health.
What do my test results mean?
A resting oxygen saturation level between 95% and 100% is regarded as normal for a healthy person at sea level. At higher elevations, oxygen saturation levels may be slightly lower. People should contact a health care provider if their oxygen saturation readings drop below 92%, as it may be a sign of hypoxia, a condition in which not enough oxygen reaches the body’s tissues. If blood oxygen saturation levels fall to 88% or lower, you should seek medical attention.
Note that for people with known lung disorders such as COPD, resting oxygen saturation levels below the normal range are usually considered acceptable. A physician can provide details on appropriate oxygen saturation levels for specific medical conditions.
Most pulse oximeters are accurate to within 2% to 4% of the actual blood oxygen saturation level. This means that a pulse oximeter reading may be anywhere from 2% to 4% higher or lower than the actual oxygen level in arterial blood. However, a number of factors can impair the functioning or accuracy of a pulse oximeter. Nail polish and artificial nails may block the red and infrared light emitted by the device. Certain dyes used for diagnostic tests or medical procedures can also hinder light transmission. Excessive motion—shivering, shaking, or other movement—can also cause erroneous readings. To discuss the results of your tests and learn more about pulse oximetry, make an appointment with your physician.
Yale Medicine, 2025
