Making improvements to our local environment will improve population health. The link between economic inequality and poor population health is well known and the poorest people tend to live in the most polluted environments1.
An estimated 4.2 million premature deaths globally are linked to ambient air pollution, mainly from heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections in children2.
Access to green space brings “positive effects on both short-term and long-term mental health outcomes” and “among blue spaces, benefits of the coast [on mental health] were found” in a systematic review conducted on behalf of the WHO3
NAPC’s Planetary Health work aims to show that planetary health is not just a real consideration for us in population health improvement, but also that there are tangible things we can do to improve the current and future situation for the benefit of our populations.
References
- Science for Environmental Policy. (2016). Links between noise and air pollution and socioeconomic status. In-depth Report 13 produced for the European Commission, DG Environment by the Science Communication Unit, UWE, Bristol.
- Air pollution and health (biomedcentral.com)
- 9789289055666-eng.pdf (who.int)
