The Health Risks of Air Pollution
Published: May 15, 2018
Photo courtesy: NEIL PALMER
The ever-growing problem of air pollution can be tackled only through a stronger implementation of existing policies.
Abstract: Rising levels of air pollution are posing a health hazard to people worldwide. In 2016, exposure to ambient PM2.5 caused 1.025 million deaths in India. While a number of policies to combat air pollution exists, improper implementation leaves us gasping for the most basic of human needs—air.
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Probability of dying (per 1,000) between ages 15 and 60 years (adult mortality rate).
DALY is an abbreviation for Disability Adjusted Life Years. The sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability.
An air quality index (AQI) is a number used by government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become. As the AQI increases, an increasingly large percentage of the population is likely to experience severe adverse health effects.
The dependency ratio is a measure showing the number of dependents, aged zero to 14 and over the age of 65, to the total population, aged 15 to 64. It is also referred to as the 'total dependency ratio'.
HALE is short for Health Adjusted Life Expectancy and is the equivalent number of years in full health that a newborn can expect to live based on current rates of ill‐healthand mortality.
The doctor-population ratio is the number of doctors per 1000 population in an administrative territory.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents (defined according to the WHO growth reference for school-aged children and adolescents, overweight—one standard deviation body mass index for age and sex, and obese—two standard deviations body mass index for age and sex).
The crude death rate is calculated as the number of deaths in a given period divided by the population exposed to risk of death in that period.
The number of tuberculosis cases (new and relapse) notified to the national health authorities during a specified period of time per 100,000 population.
A treatment gap is the difference between the number of people who need healthcare but do not receive it.
Prevalence is a statistical concept referring to the number of cases of a disease that are present in a particular population at a given time.
Family planning services are defined as educational, comprehensive, medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors, to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved.