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Chris Smith and David Fratt. Chemonics International, 1133 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, 202-955-3300, csmith@chemonics.net
Addressing urban air quality issues is complex in any setting, including a range of technical, political, legal, economic, social, and institutional issues. Resources are especially scarce in developing economies, which are the very countries facing the most acute health threats from air pollution. Proper analysis is essential to characterize the problem, and this should include health-based assessments to prioritize the threat posed by different pollutant problems and sources. Work performed in Egypt demonstrates the effectiveness of health risk analysis in defining priority problems and finding interventions to mitigate them. Beginning in the early 1990s, specialists used risk analysis to define donor program interventions. The resulting Cairo Air Improvement Project (CAIP), and its activities to tackle industrial and vehicular pollution, was designed from this analysis. CAIP and the companion Egyptian Environmental Policy Program have now generated further data that have guided detailed health analyses linked with economic valuation. Recent health risk analysis demonstrates the continued threat posed by fine particulate matter as well as other gaseous and particle-bound pollutants. The program has reconciled the relative significance of different adverse health effects (e.g., premature death, respiratory illness) posed by different pollutants through economic valuation. This has now informed the development of a sector-specific air quality strategy that will guide the Egyptian government’s environmental management initiatives in the upcoming years.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employee of Chemonics International.