WHO launches video series on air pollution and health:

The World Health Organization has launched a video series on air pollution and health as part of activities to commemorate the first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies.

Produced in response to strong demand for more accessible information on the links between air pollution and health, the videos tackle hot topics in the area, looking at broader aspects with new lenses and zooming in on the technical minutiae, often with analogies and in easily-digestible language.

The experts explore questions like: what are the complexities of comparing air pollution exposure to smoking? Do regulations and standards really reduce air pollution? Where is most of the action against air pollution actually happening? Once the scientific evidence is established and presented, what does it take to make change happen? Is air pollution just an urban issue?

Viewers will find key definitions and observations fundamental to understanding air pollution issues and useful for policymakers, researchers, scientists, health workers, students, and citizen scientists.

Screenshot from the new video series on air pollution and health. (Currently only available on desktop, laptop, or the desktop site in mobile device browsers)

This open compendium of expert knowledge and dialogues communicate the work and experience of air pollution experts, those needing to produce comprehensive health impact assessments and general messages.

Accessible to everyone around the world, the videos can be used for:

• Education – universities and schools can access simple short videos on key topics relating to environment and health.
• Training – any course on air pollution will benefit from using these short videos presented by top experts.
• Communication – when expert statements need to be produced, these videos provide the necessary credible support.

They feature candid, pithy responses, quotable quotes, personal anecdotes and illustrative case studies.

“This wealth of expert knowledge covers areas of discussion that enhance the usual offering of information on air pollution and health. Viewing and sharing these videos will expand discussions, collaborations, and dissemination of information on air pollution, climate, and health,” said WHO’s Air Pollution Unit Coordinator, Dr Nathalie Roebbel.

“The use of videos will better communicate the knowledge and experience of many experts who have conducted many years of investigations into the relationship between reduced air pollution and improving health,” she said.

The new video library on air pollution and health aims to expand the availability of expert knowledge reaching a broad multisectoral audience and potentially increase collaboration and action to reduce air pollution emissions.

“This video series comes at a time when governments and other relevant actors, including citizens, are exploring what a green, healthy recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic entails, and what it means in real terms to ‘build back better’. The videos can help to inform these conversations in terms of the importance of clean air to health, its relationship to climate change and its many links to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said WHO Director, Environment, Climate Change and Health, Dr Maria Neira.

Explore the new video library on air pollution and health HERE. Please note: currently, the library only works on desktops, laptops or through the desktop site in mobile device browsers. 

Banner photo by © WHO / Anna Kari