Health effects of transport-related air pollution: summary for policy-makers

By Michal Krzyzanowski
2005, 12 pages
ISBN 92 890 1375 3

While transport is a vital part of modern life, policy-makers in the WHO European Region face the difficult challenge of reducing the related risks to health and the environment and meeting countries' requirements for effective transport systems. Diseases related to the air pollution caused by road transport affect tens of thousands of people in the Region each year. Policies for more effective action need to be based on a better understanding of the role of various pollutants in harming health and the determinants of exposure.

This booklet helps to meet this need. It summarizes the results of a systematic review of the literature and a comprehensive evaluation of the health hazards of transport-related air pollution. (A separate book gives these results in full.) This summary identifies the key facts emerging from the accumulated evidence, and uses them to suggest both topics for further research and well-justified short-term action to protect health. It can help policy-makers make and implement transport policies in the European Region that maximize the benefits to health.