Indoor Air Quality in Asian Countries

The rapid growth in economic development, urban population, transport and energy use in Asian countries has resulted in environmental degradation. In particular urban air pollution has emerged as significant threat to public health. A recent air quality management assessment, conducted by Clean Air Initiatives for Asian cities (CAI-Asia, 2010), has identified a small improvement in air quality but the levels of PM10 and SO2 are still higher than World Health Organisation air quality guidelines. Out of 230 Asian cities, 58% had annual PM10 levels exceeding the WHO Interim Target-1 (70 μg/m3) and only 2 cities had annual PM10 concentrations within the WHO air quality guidelines.