Join the WHO Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit for the webinar “Clean air for public health – Assessing population exposure to air pollution” to be held on 22 April 2024 at 15:00-16:30 (CEST).Air pollution kills 6.7 million people every year. To protect health and reduce mortality, we need to reduce population exposure to air pollution. Recognizing that reducing population exposure requires the monitoring air pollution, WHO leveraged its Global Air Pollution and Health Technical Advisory Group to develop an overview of methods that are useful for assessing health impacts. These methods can also be used countries to build national programmes for measuring and modelling air pollution exposure.The webinar aims to: Launch the Overview of methods to assess population exposure to ambient air pollution which presents monitoring methods that are an integral part of air quality management.  Highlight measurement and modelling methods that are commonly used in health impact assessments to estimate population exposure to air pollution. Showcase the challenges and lessons learnt when country’s have implemented these methods into their air quality management systems to better understand the national burden of disease and enhance their country’s ability to tackle air pollution and protect public health. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.AgendaChairSophie Gumy, Technical Officer, Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit, WHO Welcome and housekeepingHeather Rohani-Adair, Unit Head a.i., Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit, WHOOpening remarksCoordinated Monitoring Networks: Assessing Global Exposures and Health RisksSara Basart, Scientific Officer, World Meteorological OrganizationPresentationMonitoring air pollution is key to adopting and implementing WHO Air Quality GuidelinesKerolyn Shairsingh, Consultant, Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit, WHOPanel discussionMonitoring population exposure to air pollution: Moving from theory to actionFacilitator: Jason West, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillCommonly used methods for health impact assessment:Discussants:Jill Baumgartner, School of Population and Global Health, McGill UniversityAugustin Colette, Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS)Best practices and/or lessons learnt from implementing national air quality monitoring programmes:Discussants:Christian Nagl, Umweltbundesamt (Environment Agency Austria)Aminata Mbow, Centre de Gestion de la Qualité de l’Air, Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition, SenegalSadegh Hassanvand, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical SciencesQ&A and discussionJason West, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillClosing remarksSophie Gumy, Technical Officer, Air Quality, Energy and Health Unit, WHOConfirmed SpeakersSophie GumySophie Gumy is Technical Officer in the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization. She is leading WHO’s work on evidence synthesis, capacity-building and monitoring of ambient air pollution exposure and related disease burden. Prior to joining the Air Quality and Health unit, she was working on the burden of disease from various environmental risk factors, including air pollution, water and sanitation and climate change.Heather Rohani-AdairHeather Adair-Rohani currently leads the work on air quality, energy and health at the World Health Organization Headquarters. She has led the establishment of the Health and Energy Platform of Action, and the High-level Coalition on Health and Energy. She co-led the coordination and development of the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion and is currently overseeing the work to support countries in the implementation of these Guidelines through the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit.  She also actively participates and represents WHO at various global initiatives focused on health, air pollution and energy like UN Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, and the Global Strategy for Women, Children and Adolescent Health.Sara BasartSince 2023, Dr Sara Basart has been a scientific officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme in charge of atmospheric composition and air quality modelling activities. Her main research interests range from the study of the variability induced by mineral dust in observed changes in the atmosphere -and consequently in weather and climate-, to the assessment of aerosol impacts in climate, ocean biogeochemistry, air quality, health and socio-economic sectors (such as energy or transportation). Kerolyn ShairsinghDr Kerolyn Shairsingh is a consultant in the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization. She has worked on multiple reports and databases for exposures assessment, policies and SDGs. She also supports the synthesis of knowledge and evidence within the Global Air Pollution and Health-Technical Advisory Group. Prior to WHO, she worked at the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute where she managed several research & development projects. She has a scientific background in air pollution exposure models and urban environmental health through her post-doctoral work with the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium.Jason WestDr. J. Jason West is Professor of Environmental Sciences & Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. West is an engineer and leader in interdisciplinary research that connects air pollution, climate change, energy, and human health, using models of atmospheric transport and chemistry at global through local scales. He led some of the first studies to use global atmospheric models to assess the health impacts of ambient air pollution, addressing its global burden on mortality, and the co-benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation and the impacts of climate change for global air quality and health. Dr. West has served on the Scientific Steering Committee of the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution, and NASA’s Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team, and is a Leopold Leadership Fellow. Jill BaumgartnerJill Baumgartner is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar in the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University. She studies exposure to environmental pollutants and their effects on human health in the context of urbanization and development. Her publications appear in top journals in environmental health as we as interdisciplinary journals including PNAS, Lancet, and Nature Energy. She was recognized as “an extraordinary scientist under age 40” by World Economic Forum (2018) and received FRQS and CIHR Investigator Awards (2015, 2021), McGill’s Maude Abbott Award for research excellence in early career (2016), and a Trottier Institute for Science and Public Policy Fellowship (2019). Augustin ColetteAugustin Colette is head of the Atmospheric Modelling and Environmental Mapping Unit (MOCA) of the French public Institute INERIS (Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des Risques). He holds a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from Sorbonne University and worked in the past for UNESCO, Stanford University, Ecole Polytechnique and the private sector for Meteorological Risk Assessment. He has co-authored 85 peer-reviewed articles in the field of atmospheric chemistry and physics.Aminata Mbow DiokhaneAminata Mbow Diokhane is an IT Engineer, Air Quality Expert and since 2014 the Chief of Air Quality Monitoring Center (Centre de Gestion de la Qualité de l’Air – CGQA) at the Senegalese Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition. She worked as the IT expert of CGQA (2008- 2014), in charge of the data transfer system between the five air quality monitoring stations and the central laboratory, the air quality web portal design and maintenance, the Geographic Information System (GIS) management, the air quality index calculation and publication. She is also one of the co-authors for the manuscripts entitled “Linkages between Observed, Modeled Saharan dust loading and Meningitis in Senegal during 2012 and 2013”.Mohammad Sadegh HassanvandMohammad Sadegh Hassanvand is a Professor in Environmental Health Engineering at the School of Public Health & the Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Currently, he is the director of Center for Air Pollution Research at the Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. His main research areas include health effects of air pollution, air pollution measurements and exposure assessment. His other area of research includes Health Impacts Assessment (HIA) of mega developments projects. Since 2021, he is member of the WHO Global Air Pollution and Health – Technical Advisory Group. Sadegh was also a Committee member of the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines Development Group (2016-2021). Professor Hassanvand has published more than 150 research articles in international academic journals.Christian NaglDr. Christian Nagl is a senior air quality expert and deputy head of the team Air Pollution Control & Buildings at Environment Agency Austria. He has gained several years of experience in conducting and managing studies and projects concerning air quality data assessment on national and European scale. His work covers technical, legislative and political issues of air quality management in national and international projects. He contributed to the planning and holding of successful workshops on air quality related topics in several countries. He was responsible for several air quality related studies for the European Parliament and the European Commission.After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.About the webinar seriesThis event is part of the WHO Webinar Series – Clean air and energy for health: from evidence to solutions. The series gives a 360° view on current state of science, tools, interventions and the implementation of policies and programmes for clean air and better health. This series will also showcase solutions that can help prevent or mitigate air pollution health, economic and environmental costs. Bringing together experts, leaders, policymakers, civil society champions, innovators from a multi-sectorial perspective, it will also serve as a platform for fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and ultimately shaping a healthier, more sustainable future for all.



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