A child-relevant response to a

Over 300 people die from air pollution every year in Bristol. What can be done to prevent these deaths? If you care about air pollution, this event is for you.

On 23 January this year we had a peak PM2.5 air pollution event in Bristol of 57.6 μg/m3 over 24 hours. What does this mean? What are PM2.5s? Where do they come from? Should we care? Is this connected to child asthma in Bristol?

The event will start with a series of three short presentations, exploring the known impacts of air pollution on child lung development, contrasting this with the mental health and physical health benefits of healthy modes of transport. It will then examine potential ways of responding in real-time to air pollution peaks in a way that could protect children from the most harm.

Finally, the floor will be opened to the audience, as we are all part of the solution. New personal air pollution monitors may be game changers in how we can make personal decisions to manage our risk from air pollution, but also in mobilising public consensus to ask for structural change tomake transport more healthy for everybody

Session overview

1. An overview of the long term effects of air pollution exposure of children
2. Enabling walking for transport for everybody through inclusive transport practices which protect children from air pollution
3. Benefits of an active lifestyle on mental health and child obesity: Evidence from Children of the 90s
4. We are the solution – open panel discussion with the audience to discuss solutions such as polluter pays and personal monitoring to avoid exposure and mobilise public awareness for political change

John Henderson is Professor of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the University of Bristol, and co-author of the Royal College of Physician’s report Every breath we take: the life-long effects of air pollution.

His research interests research interests are primarily centred on identification of early life factors associated with the development of asthma and allergies in children. He works with the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALPSAC) cohort.

Jess Read is a healthy transport engineer with a focus on inclusive walking and cycling for older adults, children and disabled people. She has spend the past 16 months conducting iWalk – innovations in inclusive walking, an ESRC secondment in Bristol City Council’s transport team to develop ten innovations which could better embed inclusive walking in standard transport practices. One of these is A Child-Relevant Response to Air Pollution

She co-authored the report for the Department of Health ‘Why temporary street closures for play make sense for public health’, as discussed recently on Women’s Hour.

This event is part of Healthy City Week 2017 (7 – 14 October) – an annual programme of activities exploring wellbeing that doesn’t cost the earth. Healthy City Week is formed by its contributors, delivered by Bristol Green Capital Partnership and supported by Bristol Health Partners. View all events at www.bristolgreencapital.org/healthycityweek

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