Outdoor Air | Environmental Health Issue

Running Head: HEALTHCARE
Ravleen kaur
Deakin university
Group presentation

HEALTHCARE 1
Introduction
Outdoor air that constitutes the air from the ground level to miles above the surface of the
globe is a valuable resource for both the current and future generation sue due to its essential
gases which is required for sustaining life in Earth from the harmful radiations (Guo et al. 2019).
Air pollution occurs when the environment is been contaminated with physical, chemical or the
biological agents which modifies the fundamental and natural characteristics of the nature (Guo
et al. 2019). According to the reports by WHO, it is the largest environmental risk to health that
has been estimated to effect 1 among 8 people in the globe (World Health Organization. 2019).
The thesis statement of the essay argues with the importance of outdoor air quality and highlight
it as one of the major environmental health issues in the globe.
Description of environmental health issue
The exposure of human being to outdoor air has been a function of the magnitude and
composition of outdoor air quality together with the activity patterns of humans (Leung 2015).
Outdoor air quality is essential for the protection of the human and the environment
(Oxfordshire.air-quality.info. 2019). The harmful chemicals and the pollutants that have mixed
up with the outdoor air have targeted the quality of the air thus posing a major challenge to the
life of the living creature of the world (Boogaard and van Erp 2019). Often referred as the
ambient air, degrading air quality induced air pollution which is the result of the process of
combustion from fuels, motor, incineration of waste and human hazards
(Healthandenvironment.org. 2019). The exposure to the degrading outdoor air quality is one of
the major environmental health issue and a threat to the living world (Climate & Clean Air

HEALTHCARE 2
Coalition. 2019). Some of the most common air pollutants that is present in the outdoor air
quality includes the Ozone(O3), Carbon monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur
Dioxide (SO2) and particulate matters like PM 10 and PM2.5 (Climate & Clean Air Coalition.
2019). This is a major environmental risk towards health since it increases the burden of disease
from lung, heart, cancer and acute and chronic respiratory disease including the challenges of
asthma (Lelieveld et al. 2019). In the countries within the globe that are low and middle income
ones, the exposure to degrading quality of outdoor air quality increases the risk towards the air
pollution related disease that includes respiratory infections, lung cancer and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (Environmental Defense Fund. 2019). There lies major risk towards health
not only from the exposure to particulate matters since the concentration of particulate matters
are often the highest in the urban region of the low income countries (Erickson 2017). The ozone
is one of the main factor in mortality and the asthma morbidity playing a major role in lung
inflammation and reduced function of lung (Holliday 2019).
The country who is more at risk : population growth , manufacturing , more at risk of asthma
Background, context of the health issues in recent time
The pollution over the quality of outdoor air has remain dangerous high in several parts
of the world. Data from the World Health Organization shows that 9 out of the 10 people
throughout the world breathe the outdoor air that is degrading in quality and contains high level
of pollutants (World Health Organization. 2019). The update estimations reveal one of the
alarming rate of the death toll of more than 7 million people that is caused by outdoor air quality
and the air pollution (Erickson 2017). According to World Health Organization. (2019) outdoor
air quality threatens all living creatures but only the marginalised and poorest people bears the
brunt of the burden. According the statistics by WHO, more than 3 billion people including

HEALTHCARE 3
children are breathing deadly outdoor air leading them to major threat in near future (World
Health Organization. 2019).
Figure - The increasing Death rates
Source - Climate & Clean Air Coalition. (2019)
The figure above has been published by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation
estimated danger of more than 7 million people from the exposure towards fine particles in the
polluted air that penetrate deep in the cardiovascular system thereby causing diseases that causes
threaten to life. Pollution in the outdoor air quality in the year 2018 has caused more than 4.2
million of deaths highlighting more than 90 % of the death rates in middle and low income
countries (Healthandenvironment.org. 2019). This includes Africa, Asia, East-Mediterranean