Interlinkages between health impacts of air pollution and inclusivity

About the event

The Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP) of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is organising a regional workshop in collaboration with the Health Effects Institute (HEI). This workshop aims to brings together representatives of government agencies from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, specifically from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Forest and Environment, Health and Medical Research Council, international experts, and relevant partners to foster collaboration and efforts to discuss the intersectional issues of health inequality, air pollution, and energy access and use.

Additionally, the workshop will discuss health inequality from gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) as priority cross-cutting issues when covering air pollution in the region. About 40 participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal and international experts are expected to participate in this workshop.

Objectives

• Understand the status of air pollution and health impact in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region (HKH) and discuss the methodologies/approaches use for health impact assessments and mitigation
• Identify new data that can be collected and generated to highlight environmental-related inequalities to scale-up solutions for clean air.
• Engage key thought-experts in the air pollution and health nexus for advocacy and awareness efforts.

Expected outputs

The expected outputs are to:

• Generate a methodological framework to estimate the health impact of air pollution at sub-national scale to assess inequalities;
• Prepare an action plan with regional and international partners to collect/generate relevant sub-national data for air pollution health impacts to evidence inequalities.
• Dissemination and outreach of communication products

Background

The Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Himalayan Foothills region (IGP-HF) airshed encompassing Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, is a major global air pollution hotspot. In both urban and rural areas of this region, air pollution has reached alarming levels, with South Asia housing 37 of the 40 most polluted cities worldwide. The high levels of air pollution are affecting the health of millions of people, particularly women, children, and older people; in each of these groups, those living in poverty are the most vulnerable. Air pollution is also reducing economic productivity, with welfare costs equivalent to around 10% of GDP. People from socially and economically marginalised groups face greater health issues from air pollution despite their minimal contribution to the overall air pollution. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, caregivers and children are particularly affected. They are frequently exposed to higher levels of household air pollution from solid fuel use, which emit noxious substances after combustion.