Air Pollution and Public Health: Global Evidence and Implications

Globally, the issue of air pollution keep being one of most serious challenges that affecting environment and human health, coming from emissions of industries, transport, agriculture and also from the fuel people use in homes, in addition to natural events that make the situation worse. This review try to bring together the available evidences about the sources, types, and the health impacts of the main air pollutants, including the gaseous ones like SO₂, O₃, NO₂, and CO, and the particulate matter (PM₁₀, PM₂.₅). Exposure for short or long time to these pollutants is linked with many harmful outcomes, such as cardiovascular and respiratory problems, issues related to pregnancy, lowering life expectancy, and rising mortality levels. The risks become even higher for vulnerable groups like infants, children, old adults, pregnant women, and people who already have chronic conditions. Mechanistic studies show that Pollutants are one of the factors that may lead to oxidative stress, inflammation, problems in immune functions, and harm in different organs, which all together push the development of chronic diseases. Moreover growing evidence suggesting that air pollution connected more predisposition and worse of COVID-19 infection. In many regions, PM₂.₅ exposure still represent the most important factor predicting health burden, particularly in nations with poor and medium incomes  where  impacts on cardiovascular mortality and on life expectancy are more noticeable. Altogether, these results point to how urgent it is to apply strict air quality regulations and to design interventions that focus on the groups most at risk, and also to build integrated policies that take care of both environmental and public health priorities at the same time.