Capacity building and training materials

WHO is developing a training toolkit to strengthen the professional capacity of health workers to deal with air pollution and health-related issues. The toolkit includes information on the main air pollutants and their sources, the scientific evidence on mechanisms through which air pollutants undermine people’s health, the different policies and interventions that can be enforced to reduce ambient and household concentrations, as well as the importance of the health workers’ role.

Health workers in the clinical context, such as family doctors, specialists, nurses, midwives, community health workers, future health care professionals, as well as public health professionals will have access to knowledge and tools to provide recommendations on the challenges related to air pollution and health and ways of reducing exposure to air pollution to communities and individuals.

Building and enhancing capacity among health actors to address the health effects and mitigate the risks of air pollution by effectively engaging with patients and communities is a vital WHO activity. WHO Member States mandated health sector capacity building with the adoption of the World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution A68.8 “Health and the environment: addressing the health impact of air pollution” adopted in 2015 and the consequent 2016 “Road Map for an Enhanced Global Response to the Adverse Health Effects of Air Pollution” (A69/18).

This toolkit takes into account different regional perspectives and will be tested with health workers in the two Urban Health Initiative pilot cities—Accra and Kathmandu.