AIR POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON PUBLIC HEALTH

Air Pollution and its Impact on Public Health

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the impact of air pollution on the health of the citizens of U.S. in particular. It reviews few prominent scholarly articles and evaluate their findings to assess the public concerns regarding air pollution and its impact. Various health policies will be discussed in the paper that might be useful in solving the problem. Special preference will be given to the role of economy in the health care sector and its significance with respect to air pollution and other hazards in the country.

Review of Literature: Air Pollution and its Impact on Public Health

Health care sector in the United States, demands increasing amounts of spending in order to sustain. The U.S. officials are concerned about the increased governmental spending on health care. This trend is likely to continue in the future. Much of the national income of the U.S. is being spent on health care concerns. U.S. and France have been the biggest spenders per capita on health care. The U.S. spending on health care accounts for 5 percent of its Gross Domestic product (GDP) that is more than that of France. The utilization of health care resources varies across the United States. However, studies show that the quality of care, standard nursing practices, access to health care provisions and overall patient satisfaction is not better in higher spending regions.

Air pollution has become a pressing issue in the metropolis and it is affecting more children than adults. Air pollution has been creating adverse health consequences since the time urban advancements and technological shifts have taken place. These advancements have resulted in environmental degradation that serves a breeding ground to infections and air borne diseases. The impact that can be widely witnessed is the adverse respiratory outcomes, especially in toddlers and children below the age of twelve years. They are prone to develop symptoms of asthma after being exposed to the polluted air for even a short while. Outdoor asthma prevalence is a growing concern in the metropolitan areas since it is affecting the children and exposing them to various infections at the same time. There can be many factors that are responsible for the environmental hazards and its impact on the children community. Environment is one of the causative factors that are certain to create respiratory problems among children. This is a point of concern for parents who can only divert their exposure to air and pollution in order to avoid the air borne diseases.

Bio-aerosols containing allergic proteins are often found in the internal environment. Together with the ozone, these elements can provide inflammation and other allergies. In this case, the trend rise in the incidence coincides with the dynamics of growth of the index of air pollution and increase the number of vehicles in the city. Due to the increasing level of air pollution, the incidence of people with chronic forms of respiratory diseases among both children and adults ...