Air quality index and its importance in protecting public health
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6016/ZdravVestn.3464Keywords:
index, air quality, pollution, health risk, public healthAbstract
One of the effective measures to control air pollution is monitoring the quality of the ambient (outdoor) air, which is subject to the European Union (EU) legislation and the member states’ national legislation. The huge amount of data collected in this way can have a dissuasive effect on the professional public, policymakers, regulators, and especially on the general public, which can significantly reduce the support for preventive and targeted measures in the field of air quality monitoring and consequently the protection of public health. Instead of publishing the measurement results, the Air Quality Index (AQI) is used to inform the public on ambient air quality status in real-time. The basic message of the AQI is that as ambient air pollution increases, so does the risk to public health. The increase is illustrated by the different colours, each belonging to individual level of air quality. There are several methods or approaches of displaying AQI worldwide, but regardless, they all share the same concept, displaying a colour scale. In order to reduce differences in the EU area, a uniform European AQI was recently introduced, and it was also adopted in Slovenia. The article describes the general meaning of AQI, its calculations and presentation methodology, as well as its communication and application. The article aims to bring AQI closer to health professionals for simplified and convenient observation of current (or predicted) air quality. In this way, they may be able to advise appropriate self-protective behaviour during poor ambient air quality episodes, especially to vulnerable groups of patients.
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