Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, No 19 Xinjiekouwai Road, Beijing 100875, China; School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing 100085, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Mar 20;657:619-626. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.428. Epub 2018 Nov 29.
Air pollution caused by particulate matter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM) imposes a severe health burden to people worldwide. Across the globe, and even within cities, the health burden of air pollution is not equally shared by citizens. Despite being the region suffering from the most severe air pollution, studies examining the inequity of the burdens of air pollution in Asia are limited. We aim to fill in this gap by analyzing the relationship between PM pollution and residents' socioeconomic characteristics in Beijing, the icon city for PM pollution. Our results show that household income and education were negatively correlated with ambient air quality (r = -0.62; p < 0.05 and r = -0.73; p < 0.01 respectively) in 2014. We found in Beijing air quality is worse where residents have less income and lower education rates and are less capable to protect themselves from the potential health risk. To counter the effects of air pollution in Beijing, air filtration has been shown to be an effective means to reduce, at least, indoor PM levels. We illustrate through a simple scenario analysis that air filtration can reduce exposure (26-79%) to a similar extent as the structural mitigation programs (e.g. closing coal factories) achieved in recent years (53%). We argue government intervention is needed to convey the benefit of air filtration to the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.
直径小于 2.5μm 的颗粒物（PM）造成的空气污染给全世界人民的健康带来了严重负担。在全球范围内，甚至在城市内部，空气污染的健康负担在不同人群中的分布并不均衡。尽管亚洲地区是空气污染最严重的地区，但对于亚洲地区空气污染负担不均等问题的研究却十分有限。我们旨在通过分析北京市（PM 污染的标志性城市）的 PM 污染与居民社会经济特征之间的关系来填补这一空白。我们的研究结果表明，2014 年，家庭收入和教育水平与环境空气质量呈负相关（r= -0.62；p<0.05 和 r= -0.73；p<0.01）。我们发现，北京空气质量较差的地区，居民的收入和教育水平较低，自我保护免受潜在健康风险的能力也较弱。为了应对北京市的空气污染问题，空气过滤已被证明是一种有效降低室内 PM 水平的方法。我们通过一个简单的情景分析表明，空气过滤可以将暴露水平降低到与近年来实施的结构性缓解计划（如关闭煤厂）相当的程度（26%-79%）。我们认为，需要政府干预来向社会经济弱势群体传达空气过滤的好处。
