Perceptions of air pollution and health communication for people with asthma among Australia's Arabic-speaking communities.

Air pollution is a major public health risk factor globally and a significant threat to people with respiratory conditions. People with asthma, and particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, are disproportionally affected and have less capacity to protect themselves from air pollution. There is a critical lack of accessible resources and advice for people with asthma who are from CALD backgrounds.

Air pollution abatement from Green-Blue-Grey infrastructure.

Green-blue-grey infrastructure (GBGI) offers environmental benefits in urban areas, yet its impact on air pollution is under-researched, and the literature fragmented. This review evaluates quantitative studies on GBGI's capability to mitigate air pollution, compares their specific pollutant removal processes, and identifies areas for further investigation. Of the 51 GBGI types reviewed, only 22 provided quantitative pollution reduction data.

Asthma medication usage after environmental exposure to wildfire smoke: A systematic review.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition exacerbated by exposure to particulate air pollution. Smoke from landscape fires has been associated with increased mortality, asthma-related admissions to emergency and other hospital departments, and uptake in primary care services. With climate change and more frequent landscape fires, healthcare systems must prepare for disaster, including surges in asthma medication demand.

The 2024 report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: Australia emerging as a hotspot for litigation.

The MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change in Australia was established in 2017 and produced its first national assessment in 2018 and annual updates in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. It examines five broad domains: health hazards, exposures and impacts; adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. In this, the seventh report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown, we track progress on an extensive suite of indicators across these five domains, accessing and presenting the latest data and further refining and developing our analyses.

Seasonal analysis of indoor and outdoor ratios of PM and PM in Bangkok and Chiang Mai: A comparative study of haze and non-haze episodes.

Particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been identified as one cause of human health impact with the estimated global 8.8 million attributable deaths. Thailand experiences haze episode every year, which can lead to high ambient concentrations of particulate matter in ambient air.

Interventions for reducing exposure to air pollution from landscape fires in a changing environment: A systematic review.

Emissions from more frequent and prolonged landscape fires (wildfires, risk reduction fires, agricultural burning) can expose populations to high levels of air pollution and exacerbate a range of health conditions. This systematic review aims to map, evaluate, and synthesise the scientific literature reporting interventions that can reduce exposure to landscape fire smoke (LFS). Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science and reviewed relevant literature published until March 2024.

Assessing the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19 on 64 notifiable infectious diseases in Australia: A Bayesian Structural Time Series model.

Background: Several studies have examined the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in Australia and globally. However, to our knowledge none have sufficiently explored their impact on other infectious diseases with robust time series model. In this study, we aimed to use Bayesian Structural Time Series model (BSTS) to systematically assess the impact of NPIs on 64 National Notifiable Infectious Diseases (NNIDs) by conducting a comprehensive and comparative analysis across eight disease categories within each Australian state and territory, as well as nationally.

Shifts in seasonal influenza patterns in Australia during and after COVID-19: A comprehensive analysis.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, seasonal influenza virus circulation was heavily suppressed worldwide. In Australia, since the virus re-emerged in 2022, shifts in seasonal influenza patterns have been observed. Both the 2022 and 2023 seasons started earlier than pre-pandemic norms and were categorised as moderate to severe, highlighting the renewed importance of prevention strategies for seasonal influenza.

Building competency to deal with environmental health challenges: experiences and a proposal.

The global landscape of professional training in environmental health, encompassing ecological public health or environmental public health, lacks consistent global implementation for training programs for public health practitioners, clinical professionals, and individuals across various disciplines, as well as standardized curricula for undergraduates. This training gap is related to the overall lack of capacity in addressing the population impacts of the triple challenge of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change, impeding the worldwide transition to and development of ecological sustainability. This paper reviews existing approaches and their potential to address implementation challenges within the necessarily tight timescale.

A new environmental public health practice to manage current and future global health challenges through education, training, and capacity building.

Unsustainable globalisation of economic activities, lifestyles and social structures has contributed to environmental degradation, posing major threats to human health at the local and global levels. All these problems including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss represent challenges that are unlikely to be met with existing approaches, capabilities and tools. This article acknowledges the need for well-prepared practitioners from many walks of life to contribute to environmental public health (EPH) functions thus strengthening society's capacity and capability to respond effectively and in a timely manner to such complex situations and multiple challenges.

Internet-based Surveillance Systems and Infectious Diseases Prediction: An Updated Review of the Last 10 Years and Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The last decade has seen major advances and growth in internet-based surveillance for infectious diseases through advanced computational capacity, growing adoption of smart devices, increased availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI), alongside environmental pressures including climate and land use change contributing to increased threat and spread of pandemics and emerging infectious diseases. With the increasing burden of infectious diseases and the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for developing novel technologies and integrating internet-based data approaches to improving infectious disease surveillance is greater than ever. In this systematic review, we searched the scientific literature for research on internet-based or digital surveillance for influenza, dengue fever and COVID-19 from 2013 to 2023.

Developing a Research Network of Early Warning Systems for Infectious Diseases Transmission Between China and Australia.

This article offers a thorough review of current early warning systems (EWS) and advocates for establishing a unified research network for EWS in infectious diseases between China and Australia. We propose that future research should focus on improving infectious disease surveillance by integrating data from both countries to enhance predictive models and intervention strategies. The article highlights the need for standardized data formats and terminologies, improved surveillance capabilities, and the development of robust spatiotemporal predictive models.

Impact of secondhand smoke on air quality in partially enclosed outdoor hospitality venues: a review.

Background: Smoking is a leading cause of premature mortality and morbidity globally. The pollutants generated from smoke are not only harmful to smokers, but also to those exposed to secondhand smoke. As a result of increasingly restrictive indoor smoke-free policies in many countries, there is a tendency for tobacco smoking to move outdoors into partially enclosed settings in hospitality venues.

Future temperature-related mortality in the UK under climate change scenarios: Impact of population ageing and bias-corrected climate projections.

Background: Exposure to heat and cold poses a serious threat to human health. In the UK, hotter summers, milder winters and an ageing population will shift how populations experience temperature-related health burdens. Estimating future burdens can provide insights on the drivers of temperature-related health effects and removing biases in temperature projections is an essential step to generating these estimates, however, the impact of various methods of correction is not well examined.

How researchers can translate health evidence into books for children.

The health promotion literature that considers how scientific evidence can be effectively communicated tends to focus on evaluating the effectiveness of communication materials. This has resulted in a knowledge gap regarding effective knowledge translation processes. This study explores the process, reasoning and practices for developing books for children that incorporate evidence-based information to aid understanding of scientific evidence about health and environmental or natural disasters.

The 2023 report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: sustainability needed in Australia's health care sector.

The MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change in Australia was established in 2017 and produced its first national assessment in 2018 and annual updates in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. It examines five broad domains: health hazards, exposures and impacts; adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. In this, the sixth report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown, we track progress on an extensive suite of indicators across these five domains, accessing and presenting the latest data and further refining and developing our analyses.

Towards development of functional climate-driven early warning systems for climate-sensitive infectious diseases: Statistical models and recommendations.

Climate, weather and environmental change have significantly influenced patterns of infectious disease transmission, necessitating the development of early warning systems to anticipate potential impacts and respond in a timely and effective way. Statistical modelling plays a pivotal role in understanding the intricate relationships between climatic factors and infectious disease transmission. For example, time series regression modelling and spatial cluster analysis have been employed to identify risk factors and predict spatial and temporal patterns of infectious diseases.

Mortality burden attributable to exceptional PM air pollution events in Australian cities: A health impact assessment.

Background: People living in Australian cities face increased mortality risks from exposure to extreme air pollution events due to bushfires and dust storms. However, the burden of mortality attributable to exceptional PM levels has not been well characterised. We assessed the burden of mortality due to PM pollution events in Australian capital cities between 2001 and 2020.

Bushfires and Mothers' Mental Health in Pregnancy and Recent Post-Partum.

Background: The compounding effects of climate change catastrophes such as bushfires and pandemics impose significant burden on individuals, societies, and their economies. The enduring effects of such syndemics on mental health remain poorly understood, particularly for at-risk populations (e.g.

A mathematical, classical stratification modeling approach to disentangling the impact of weather on infectious diseases: A case study using spatio-temporally disaggregated Campylobacter surveillance data for England and Wales.

Disentangling the impact of the weather on transmission of infectious diseases is crucial for health protection, preparedness and prevention. Because weather factors are co-incidental and partly correlated, we have used geography to separate out the impact of individual weather parameters on other seasonal variables using campylobacteriosis as a case study. Campylobacter infections are found worldwide and are the most common bacterial food-borne disease in developed countries, where they exhibit consistent but country specific seasonality.

Five Years of Accurate PM Measurements Demonstrate the Value of Low-Cost PurpleAir Monitors in Areas Affected by Woodsmoke.

Low-cost optical sensors are used in many countries to monitor fine particulate (PM) air pollution, especially in cities and towns with large spatial and temporal variation due to woodsmoke pollution. Previous peer-reviewed research derived calibration equations for PurpleAir (PA) sensors by co-locating PA units at a government regulatory air pollution monitoring site in Armidale, NSW, Australia, a town where woodsmoke is the main source of PM pollution. The calibrations enabled the PA sensors to provide accurate estimates of PM that were almost identical to those from the NSW Government reference equipment and allowed the high levels of wintertime PM pollution and the substantial spatial and temporal variation from wood heaters to be quantified, as well as the estimated costs of premature mortality exceeding $10,000 per wood heater per year.

Wood heater smoke and mortality in the Australian Capital Territory: a rapid health impact assessment.

Objectives: To estimate the number of deaths and the cost of deaths attributable to wood heater smoke in the Australian Capital Territory.

Study Design: Rapid health impact assessment, based on fine particulate matter (PM ) data from three outdoor air pollution monitors and published exposure-response functions for natural cause mortality attributed to PM exposure.

Setting: Australian Capital Territory (population, 2021: 454 000), 2016-2018, 2021, and 2022 (2019 and 2020 excluded because of the impact of extreme bushfires on air quality).

Trees, Climate Change, and Health: An Urban Planning, Greening and Implementation Perspective.

The In Conversation: Boundary, Spanners, Thinkers and Policy Actors Round Table Series provides a platform for researchers, policy actors, and implementation experts to elevate discussion on emerging issues, present new and upcoming research, and facilitate conversations around impacts and possible solutions. This brief report, on trees, climate change, and health, reflects a conversation between the authors of this paper, along with supporting literature. It explores the potential of green spaces and trees as a viable strategy to address climate change challenges and simultaneously improve population health, well-being, and health equity.