Addressing Air Quality In the region: Insights from the Webinar

The final webinar in a series dedicated to discussing health inequalities in the region took place this Wednesday 5th June.

Speakers included:

Professor William Rosenberg - Peter Scheuer Chair in Liver Diseases and Chair of Wessex Health Partners
Adam Meylan-Stevenson - Senior Policy Associate at Public Policy | Southampton and PhD student researching the ethics of air quality.
Professor Chris Hill – Director of the GeoData Institute

This webinar was chaired by Professor John Boswell, co-director of Centre for the South, and organised by our Knowledge Exchange Fellow Pooja Pandey.

As highlighted by Prof. Rosenberg in his introduction, the strategic priorities discussed within the Centre for the South’s framework are highly interdisciplinary, and the topic of air quality is no exception. This webinar aimed to share insights into an upcoming Clean Air South Network policy report, co-produced by the Sustainability and Resilience Institute, Wessex Health Partners, the GeoData Institute, and the Centre for the South.

Professor William Rosenberg

Prof. Rosenberg is the Chair of Wessex Health Partners, a strategic alliance of 15 partners representing higher education and NHS institutions, as well as the Health Innovation Network. This organisation aims to drive health improvements in the Wessex region by accelerating the research and innovation behind health practices, supporting new work in addition to existing successful networks.

He described how the central South contains both affluent regions and pockets of deprivation which face different levels of pollution, as touched upon in the Stakeholder Mapping report commissioned by New Local. This suggests that air quality is a key point of inequality for the region, particularly since the central South is home to high-emission port cities such as Southampton.

Adam Meylan-Stevenson

Adam gave an insightful presentation on the air quality issues facing the central South region.

Though air quality is currently below healthy standards on a national, continental, and global scale, pollution rates have been improving over recent years. However, Adam emphasised that there is still a long way to go, particularly since the standards set by the UK Government are unsafe, meaning a region can meet the UK government’s air quality regulations and still pose a health hazard.

Predictably, large differences in air quality have been measured between rural areas (such as Dorset or the Isle of Wight) and cities (like Southampton and Portsmouth). Furthermore, Southampton has been found have higher rates of pollution than comparator cities in Europe, and Hampshire holds a higher mortality rate as a result of air pollution than the UK’s national average. Whilst there currently exists less research on indoor pollution, it is also suggested that indoor pollution levels are higher than outside, particularly in mouldy, damp buildings.

At a national level, there are measured inequalities in air quality for disadvantaged communities and minority groups, either due to population density or pre-existing health conditions. This makes air quality a social justice issue, particularly since Adam highlighted that the wealthy have higher emission rates than the disadvantaged groups that suffer the consequences disproportionately.

Policy can affect air quality in a number of ways , including making improvements by offering grants for greener transport networks, and putting restrictions in place for local authorities. There is a conflict for policy makers, who need to balance the need for cleaner air to reduce inequalities, improve economic productivity and reduce strain on the NHS with a regional reliance on the economic benefits of polluting industries such as shipping and cruise tourism.

Suggestions formed from the current research conducted for the upcoming Clean Air South report include:

Following WHO regulations, which are stricter than the government regulations
Conducting anti-idling campaigns
Educating children so that they educate their parents
Providing green screens, ie. hedges between schools and nearby roads
Further health communications campaigns to drive behaviour changes
Addressing mould and damp
Voluntary agreements between industries and local authorities, such as the collaboration of Fawley’s oil refinery with the New Forest Council.
Following Belgium’s example, where authorities undertake remote emissions regulations for incoming ships, to ensure ships entering the city are not overly polluting.

Professor Chris Hill

The GeoData Institute has been looking into the relationship between health and air quality in the region. This is a broad subject with many research questions to be addressed; it can be approached using different conceptual frameworks. The GeoData Institute’s research, led by Dr Efstathios Margaritis, has used the DPSIR framework (looking at Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Response) to investigate this issue, and have evaluated the suitability of various data sets to gather local insights.

Prof. Hill highlighted the importance of providing evidence-based policy guides directly to the communities that need information, such as the identified Air Quality Management Areas where pollution levels are high, in order to empower and enlighten the decision making at a local level.

Discussion

An enthusiastic discussion was held in this webinar between interested parties such as air quality researchers and healthcare professionals. Different research suggestions were made, and further reading was shared in the chat.

Machine learning was discussed as a useful tool to “fill in the gaps” between air quality sensors to create more data mapping coverage, and an example of this model in use in Liverpool was shared.

Interest was expressed in personalised air quality monitors and how they could be used to drive behaviour changes, as well as further education to allow citizens to feel less powerless over something as invisible as air health. Another posited research gap was how air quality affects mental health and the mind-body connection. However, when influencing policy decisions, the balance between the economic benefit of polluting industries and the benefits of cleaner air practices must also be considered.