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Call to action for GPs on air pollution
Global Action Plan is looking to engage GPs in the air quality agenda to deliver messages to vulnerable individuals.
They are looking for a cohort of 40 GPs across the UK to become Clean Air Champions and to take part in a 3-month pilot.
The aim of the project is to better understand the best ways to engage with patients about the health risks of air pollution and actions to protect their health.
The GP Clean Air Champions will be offered two air pollution training sessions across January and February and will receive a range of communications materials on air pollution to share with patients.
The project is being supported by Defra, and implemented by Global Action Plan and UKHACC, with input from Imperial College London.
If you are interested in signing up to take part please contact cleanerair@globalactionplan.org.uk
I hope this includes indoor pollution from household dust, fungal spores, cooking fumes and other aerosols. The levels of these and toxicity are often far above traffic contributions and are neglected.
Totally agree about smoke, whether from bonfires or stoves.Very few of our GPs and nurses seem to know how unhealthy wood smoke really is, even in small amounts. You can chose not to burn wood or coal yourself (unless that is the only way you can warm your home, of course) but if you live next door to a “big burner”, there’s nothing much you can do about it. As far as I know, local authorities will only come to speak to the culprit if he or she does these smiky fires very often or if the smoke is thick and brown, suggesting rubbish burning. They are not bothered about “good clean wood smoke” it seems (which is not what the science says) and such fires are still entirely legal. Education is the answer.
According to the WHO there is no safe level of particle pollution. Medical professionals should be relaying this fact to ALL patients not just singling out vulnerable individuals. If our clean air specialists haven’t got this basic information right yet then what chance have the patients got?
I hope training will include education about the significant harm caused by the air pollution from burning wood and solid fuels? This type of pollution causes harm to entire communities from passive smoke and includes a number of carcinogens at greater levels than cigarette smoke.