{"id":8613,"date":"2021-08-05T15:20:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world-heart-federation.org\/?post_type=news&p=8613"},"modified":"2021-08-05T15:21:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:21:53","slug":"heart-and-lung-organizations-urge-who-to-publish-global-air-quality-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/world-heart-federation.org\/news\/heart-and-lung-organizations-urge-who-to-publish-global-air-quality-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart and lung organizations urge World Health Organization to publish Global Air Quality Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0European Respiratory Society (ERS)<\/a>\u00a0and thirteen partner organisations have\u00a0written<\/a> to the World Health Organization (WHO) to call on WHO to proceed with the rapid publication and dissemination of the 2021 update to the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs). Read the open letter below.<\/p>\n

We are leading medical, public health, and scientific societies and patients\u2019 organizations in respiratory and cardiovascular health and oncology. Our membership includes thousands of health care providers and environmental and occupational health experts who play a leading role in the profession. Our societies have provided several joint and\/or individual statements on the link between air pollution and diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as well as adverse effects on diabetes, reproductive outcomes, and the neurologic system in both children and adults. We recognize that air pollution is one of the most important causes of mortality and years of life lost worldwide. Outdoor and household air pollution together accounted for 12% of all global deaths in 2019 and ranked 4th for attributable disease and mortality among major risk factors evaluated in the Global Burden of Disease study, only after hypertension, smoking and dietary factors. Air pollution deserves effective policy actions from governments worldwide in order to save human lives and protect public health.<\/p>\n

The WHO is in the process of publishing the updated Global Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQG), after the last release in 2005. This event will come after years of intensive research and deliberations with experts across the globe. We expect that the new WHO AQG, while considering all the relevant scientific literature, will be ambitious and will influence air quality policy across the globe for many years to come.<\/p>\n

While the concern for health is greatest in places experiencing the highest exposures, already published scientific evidence commissioned by WHO in preparation for the WHO AQG also indicates an urgent need to lower air pollution concentrations at every level, as there is no known threshold below which air pollution is safe. The benefits are clear: lowering concentrations of air pollutants will lead to
\nenormous improvements in public health while, at the same time, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that cause climate change.<\/p>\n

For the reasons indicated above, we urge WHO<\/p>\n