New Approaches to Identifying and Reducing the Global Burden of Disease From Pollution

Abstract

Pollution from multiple sources causes significant disease and death worldwide. Some sources are legacy, such as heavy metals accumulated in soils, and some are current, such as particulate matter. Because the global burden of disease from pollution is so high, it is important to identify legacy and current sources and to develop and implement effective techniques to reduce human exposure. But many limitations exist in our understanding of the distribution and transport processes of pollutants themselves, as well as the complicated overprint of human behavior and susceptibility. New approaches are being developed to identify and eliminate pollution in multiple environments. Community-scale detection of geogenic arsenic and fluoride in Bangladesh is helping to map the distribution of these harmful elements in drinking water. Biosensors such as bees and their honey are being used to measure heavy metal contamination in cities such as Vancouver and Sydney. Drone-based remote sensors are being used to map metal hot spots in soils from former mining regions in Zambia and Mozambique. The explosion of low-cost air monitors has allowed researchers to build dense air quality sensing networks to capture ephemeral and local releases of harmful materials, building on other developments in personal exposure sensing. And citizen science is helping communities without adequate resources measure their own environments and in this way gain agency in controlling local pollution exposure sources and/or alerting authorities to environmental hazards. The future of GeoHealth will depend on building on these developments and others to protect a growing population from multiple pollution exposure risks. Plain Language SummaryThe health burdens of legacy contaminants, and the continuing global health burdens of current pollution, are crippling both global health and well-being. Much of the exposure science on these relatively well-studied pollutants is known, as is the general toxicity of past pollutants. But there is a great distance between understanding the toxicity and exposure sources of environmental pollutants and applying that knowledge in practical and just ways. This contribution summarizes several major repositories and ongoing sources of soil, dust, and air pollution and addresses the harmful effects from exposure to these. We also highlight some examples of the future of GeoHealth research in this area by providing case studies of current novel approaches that focus on bridging the science of pollution sources and distribution with real applications at the community level to reduce pollution's role in the global burden of disease.

A Systematic Framework for Collecting Site-Specific Sampling and Survey Data to Support Analyses of Health Impacts from Land-Based Pollution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…While the example CSMs presented here are specific to these activities, the framework and process is generalizable to any activity of interest (e.g., e-waste) and provides a structured approach for data collection and sampling starting with problem formulation to establish the conceptual and spatial boundaries of the analysis (i.e., zone of contaminant influence). This approach is consistent with the movement towards “fit for purpose” risk evaluations that emphasize the upfront problem formulation step in the environmental health sciences [ 60 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 ].…”

“…It is important to recognize that health outcomes in LMICs are influenced by many factors, including the quality of health care services that are offered, as well as social determinants of health, such as access to nutritious food, access to water and sanitation, decreased levels of sanitation and shelter generally, infectious agents, and lack of appropriate medical care [ 94 , 95 ]. These factors, along with co-morbidities, can interact with contaminant exposures from land-based pollution and may, all things equal, ultimately play the larger role in determining population health status [ 92 , 94 , 96 ]. Despite these challenges, acquiring a better understanding of the health impacts associated with land-based contamination attributable to particular processes and activities requires collecting data specific to those objectives, and standardizing these collection efforts will facilitate combining resulting data across locations or with other kinds of data (e.g., economic costs).…”

Lead Pollution, Demographics, and Environmental Health Risks: The Case of Philadelphia, USA

“…A recent manuscript outlined potential pathways to reduce global disease burdens on populations and highlighted the prominent role that citizen science can play to assist communities that lack resources [78]. These authors argued that citizen science is a tool that empowers people with data about their own environment in order to rectify pollution issues.…”

Climate Action to Unlock the Inclusive Growth Story of the 21st Century

“…Satellite imaging and remote sensing are now widely used, for example to track deforestation, e.g. by (Global Forest Watch 2020), water use, as for example in Turpan basin, China (World Bank 2017), illegal fishing (Imagesat International 2017), or air, water and soil pollution (Filippelli, et al 2020) among others.…”