| Topic: | Re:Re:Public Meeting "Out of breath?" - Air quality in Wandsworth, the facts & what's being done about it | |
| Posted by: | Tim Henderson | |
| Date/Time: | 27/02/12 07:57:00 |
| Indeed, I was interested to see that the "public health outcomes framework" associated with the modernisation of the NHS includes PM2.5 as one of the factors (which in turn, as I pretend to understand it, will influence the health premium of funding provided to the locality). The document includes : "Poor air quality is a significant public health issue. The current burden of particulate air pollution in the UK is estimated to be equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths in 2008 at typical ages and an associated loss of population life of 340,000 life years lost. Inclusion of this indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework will enable Directors of Public Health to prioritise action on air quality in their local area to help reduce the health burden from air pollution....... The indicator definition is ready. 3.1 The mortality effect of anthropogenic particulate air pollution (measured as fine particulate matter, PM2.5*) per 100,000 population. Mortality Burden: To be expressed as attributable deaths and associated years of life lost. (a) Attributable deaths are obtained by multiplying local PM2.5 data (population-weighted modelled background anthropogenic PM2.5 concentrations, to be supplied by Defra – see below) by annual deaths (age 30+)** and the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP)-recommended relative risk of 6% increase in mortality per 10 μg/m3 PM2.5. (b) Years of life lost associated with these attributable deaths are then calculated (eg by summing age-specific life expectancies for each attributable death). Data on the resident population can be used to express the burden per 100,000 people. The data for population-weighted anthropogenic PM2.5 will come from the annual assessment of air quality in the UK, already undertaken by Defra as part of its obligations under the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC). This produces a modelled estimate of population exposure to PM2.5 across the UK, calibrated using measured concentrations taken from Defra’s Automatic Urban and Rural Network (http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/interactive-map)." I'm not sure that I am happy with Defra's AURN modelling being the complete determinant of this - London has a much bigger (and better) network of monitors than the few used by Defra for their modelling and I fear many local effects are smudged out with their broad brush. |