Better Health For All

What will you do for Clean Air Day 2018? 21 June is the opportunity for public health professionals to bring the issue of air pollution to the attention of our colleagues and patients.What will you do for Clean Air Day 2018? 21 June is the opportunity for public health professionals to bring the issue of air pollution to the attention of our colleagues and patients.

Air pollution is the largest environmental health risk in the country, ranking alongside cancer, heart disease and obesity in the scale of its health impacts.  Air pollution affects us all at work, at home and out and about.  It causes heart and lung diseases, affects children’s lung development and shortens the life of at least 29,000 people every year.  As the Chief Medical Officer acknowledged earlier this year, we must start to address air pollution as disease prevention.  The role of the public health professional in this is crucial.

Although the majority (68%) of people in a recent nationwide survey were aware that their day-to-day activities can have a direct impact on air quality in their local environment, comparatively few were doing anything to protect their health from air pollution, such as cycling/walking a route previously driven (21%) or buying milder, fragrance-free or naturally-scented cleaning products for the home (11%).

Public health professionals have an opportunity to address this knowledge-action gap on Clean Air Day, and beyond, by:

• Providing information on what people can do to reduce air pollution and protect themselves from it;
• Encouraging pollution-busting behaviour

The Clean Air Day campaign has free, ready-to-use resources such as leaflets, posters, newsletter templates and social media memes, to make it as easy as possible for every healthcare organisation and professional to get involved with Clean Air Day. Here are some of the things you can do:

1. Incorporate air pollution advice into care pathways – print out leaflets and give to patients

2. Tell your colleagues:

• Work with your communications team to share messaging
• Encourage colleagues/visitors/patients to cycle/walk/use public transport on 21 June.  Reward those who do with a free breakfast or some other form of recognition.
• Hold an event about air pollution on 21 June e.g. a stall in reception, talk at lunchtime

3. Work with local partners – include air quality in Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies

4. Share messages about what you’re doing – use the hashtag #cleanairday @CleanAirDayUK

5. Use the free healthcare toolkit –  contains leaflet, posters, messaging, sample newsletter text etc. www.cleanairday.org.uk/healthcaretoolkit  

Clean Air Day is a chance for the whole country to come together and improve air quality through collective action.  And as public health professionals, it’s your chance to seize this opportunity on June 21 2018 to start the conversation with patients about air pollution – and clean up the air in and around our organisations.  For more information and download graphics to support Clean Air Day on social media, go to www.cleanairday.org.uk.

Written by Larissa Lockwood, Head of Health at Global Action Plan, coordinators of Clean Air Day.