Exposure Reduction of Risk Groups

Protecting those, who are most vulnerable to air pollution, is one of the most crucial but also highly complex tasks. On the one hand, a clear and shared definition of the impacting stressors is needed; on the other hand, identifying the factors that determine the vulnerability risk groups requires a comprehensive understanding of the situation. An initial approach is to determine a risk group by health status – are there any chronic diseases, e.g., Asthma, COPD – and age – young bodies are still in a development phase, whereas aged bodies lose their resilience.

The concept of „cumulative impact“ considers even more factors to define the actual vulnerability. Socio-economic factors, e.g., living conditions, profession, and access to health care, are considered.

Relevant data correlations that merge air quality data with health, demographic and socio-economic data create contextualised insights and provide actionable information for governmental, consulting, or individual decisions.

Three levels of exposure reduction

Reduce Emissions
Identify the sources of air pollution and reduce their emissions, e.g., add filters
Avoid Immission Hotpsots
Re-locate outdoor spots of risk groups, e.g., re-locate playgrounds or sports fields.
Learn more here
Behavioral Recommendations
Provide behavioural recommendations, e.g., communicate anticipated high-risk periods and high-immission hotspots.
Learn more here

Implementing any of these requires reliable air quality data that help to determine the level of air pollutants in high resolution, identify the actual source, and forecast and evaluate critical periods.