Association of particulate matter emissions, air quality and health risks in South Asian cities

Most of the South Asian cities are experiencing rapid economic development, leading to a swift growth across infrastructure sectors. This growth in infrastructure has enhanced service delivery and improved quality of life of city inhabitants but it is also the cause of severe air pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are from India. Similarly, the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study indicates that outdoor air pollution was responsible for about 0.65 million premature deaths in India during the year 2010. Several of the available studies, including GBD and WHO, suggest that rising concentrations of particulate matter (PM) in the local air atmosphere in South Asian cities are responsible for most of the outdoor air pollution-related premature mortalities and other health risks. The level of PM concentration in many cities reveals the levels that existed in Europe and North America in the first decades of the 20^th century. The rising PM pollution in South Asian region emerged as a serious hazard for human health in South Asian cities during the last few decades. In this chapter, we aim to understand the contributions of various growing infrastructure sectors in local air pollution, especially for PM pollution for better policy interventions and sustainable growth. Furthermore, the focus of this chapter remains on PM emissions, and its contribution to local air quality and health risks in major South Asian cities.