The industrialized regions of China suffer from air quality that is well above documented health standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is particularly true for both ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as ozone. Human exposure to both of these pollutants occurs not only outdoors, but also indoors given that pollutants infiltrate into indoor environments. In addition to outdoor pollutants that find their way indoors, there are also indoor sources of particulate matter and VOC’s that influence human health.
Our study will determine the influence air pollutant exposure indoors on the health of school children in China. A key component of the proposed efforts will be to compare a schools that have interventions (i.e. filtration of indoor air) to clean indoor air, to those that do not. The field sampling study will take place over a roughly one-year period near either Shanghai or Beijing, both locations that are characterized by extremely high ambient pollutant concentrations.