PUBLIC HEALTH MONITORING (FIELD SURVEY COMPONENT): METRO MANILA AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

ABSTRACT

Studies on the health impact of air pollution give strong evidence for policy makers to invest on efforts for air pollution prevention and control. The public health monitoring project aimed to: Identify low, medium and high-risk areas for exposure to air pollution; assess the health effects of air pollution on populations in selected areas of Metro Manila; develop the capacity of the Local Government Units; delineate the public perception of the health risks; enable government policy makers and agencies to reduce risks to public health from air pollution. It has three components, namely the 1) The Health Risk Assessment Component which made use of air quality assessment and atmospheric dispersion modeling, geographic information system, assessment of health risks using age and sex, specific morbidity/ mortality rates, attributable risk fraction, and the standardized morbidity/mortality ratios. 2) In the Epidemiological Study component, health effects of air pollution were assessed using prospective data collection and prevalence study. Environmental health and socio-economic variables were obtained and correlated with levels of exposure to pollutants, with particulate matter 10 as the proxy indicator, and 3) In the Health Risk Perception Survey, a cross sectional study design was used to show the knowledge and perception of health risks associated with environmental pollution. Among the significant results of the study are: Fine particulate matter and ozone are of serious health concern in Metro Manila; Motor vehicles are the major source of particulate pollution ; better household cooking fuel quality reduces occurrence of hospital admissions; considerable morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases could have been prevented with better air quality in Metro Manila in 2002.