HYDERABAD: A global plan to improve the quality of air inside homes, offices, schools and other buildings has been launched by the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air. The Global Framework for Action was launched during Climate Week in New York. It aims to make clean and healthy indoor air a public health priority across the world.
More than 200 experts from over 40 countries worked on the framework over the past year. Dr Ranga Reddy Burri, president of the Infection Control Academy of India (IFCAI), was among the commissioners who helped prepare it. The framework has nine areas of action, 40 focus areas and nearly 180 recommendations. These include creating public awareness, promoting research and innovation, improving policies, training professionals, encouraging investment, setting building standards and monitoring indoor air quality.
Dr Burri said improving indoor air should be seen as a form of preventive healthcare. He said healthier indoor environments could help improve public health, particularly in the Global South.
According to the framework, household air pollution contributes to more than three million premature deaths every year. Poor indoor air can also increase the risk of respiratory and heart diseases, worsen asthma and allergies, and contribute to the spread of airborne infections. It can also affect learning, productivity and quality of life.
The commission said the framework is not a single plan that every country has to follow. Instead, countries can use it as a guide and develop their own plans based on their climate, buildings, economy and public health needs.
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