{"id":7744,"date":"2026-01-28T11:48:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/ground_post\/air-quality-indexes-key-considerations-and-roadmaps-for-best-practices\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T11:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:48:05","slug":"air-quality-indexes-key-considerations-and-roadmaps-for-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"ground_post","link":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/ground_post\/air-quality-indexes-key-considerations-and-roadmaps-for-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Air quality indexes: key considerations and roadmaps for best practices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<section class=\"dynamic-content__section dynamic-content__container\">\n<div class=\"dynamic-content__section-container\">\n<div class=\"dynamic-content__figure-container\">\n<figure class=\"dynamic-content__figure\">\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/0546abf3-542b-4184-9b02-82a2264d2cc9\/content\" alt=\"Air quality indexes: key considerations and roadmaps for best practices\"><br \/>\n     <\/figure>\n<div class=\"button button-blue-background\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/75c3b348-9c28-4269-8e08-0f45c6791206\/content\" onclick=\"sendGaEvent('Download','https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/75c3b348-9c28-4269-8e08-0f45c6791206\/content')\">Download <span>(1.2 MB)<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"dynamic-content__description-container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md-8\">\n<div class=\"dynamic-content__description\">\n<h3>Overview <\/h3>\n<p><ds-themed-generic-item-page-field _ngcontent-dspace-angular-c611=\"\" data-used-theme=\"base\"><ds-generic-item-page-field><ds-metadata-values _nghost-dspace-angular-c325=\"\"><ds-metadata-field-wrapper _ngcontent-dspace-angular-c325=\"\" _nghost-dspace-angular-c175=\"\"><\/p>\n<div _ngcontent-dspace-angular-c175=\"\">\n<div _ngcontent-dspace-angular-c175=\"\">Air quality indexes (AQIs) are widely used to communicate short-term air pollution concentrations and related health risks to the public. Conventional AQIs are typically formulated based on the concentration of the single air pollutant that most exceeds its regulatory standard (among all pollutants measured). Alternatively, health-based AQIs represent the combined health risks due to multiple air pollutants and are formulated from concentration\u2013response functions derived from epidemiological evidence. This report examines public health approaches to improve AQIs, with a focus on roadmaps for best practices in developing, validating and communicating health-based AQIs. It first reviews the status of and differences between conventional and health-based AQIs. The Canadian Air Quality Health Index is presented as a model health-based approach, and the strengths and weaknesses of several novel indexes are discussed. Next, published studies supporting conventional and health-based AQIs across several tiers of evaluation are reviewed, focusing on evidence of public health benefits. The roles of public communication and global equity are also discussed. From this assessment, key considerations that serve as the basis for framing roadmaps for best practices moving forward are identified. In conclusion, health-based AQIs are noted to offer several advantages compared with conventional AQIs. There is a need to adopt locally-adapted, equity sensitive approaches that reflect diverse air pollution profiles, health susceptibilities and cultural contexts. Strengthening risk communication \u2013 through improved indexes and innovative strategies \u2013 plays a key role in supporting future efforts to protect public health.<span style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#3c4245;font-family:'Noto Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:16px;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/ds-metadata-field-wrapper><\/ds-metadata-values><\/ds-generic-item-page-field><\/ds-themed-generic-item-page-field><\/p>\n<div id=\"dynamic-content__accordion\" class=\"dynamic-content__accordion\">\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/europe\/news\/item\/26-01-2026-a-new-roadmap-towards-improving-air-quality-indexes\" data-sf-ec-immutable=\"\">A new roadmap towards improving air quality indexes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/environment-climate-change-and-health\/air-quality-energy-and-health\" data-sf-ec-immutable=\"\">WHO&#8217;s work on air quality, energy and health<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-md-4\">\n<div class=\"dynamic-content__details\">\n<div class=\"detail who-team\">\n<div class=\"label\">WHO Team<\/div>\n<div class=\"value\">\n                 <span><br \/>\n                             <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/environment-climate-change-and-health\/air-quality-energy-and-health\">Air Quality, Energy and Health (AQE)<\/a>,                  <\/span><br \/>\n                 <span><br \/>\n                             <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/environment-climate-change-and-health\">Environment, Climate Change and Health (ECH)<\/a>                 <\/span>\n         <\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"detail\">\n<div class=\"label\">Editors<\/div>\n<div class=\"value\">World Health Organization<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"detail\">\n<div class=\"label\">Reference numbers<\/div>\n<div class=\"value\">\n<div><strong class=\"label-sm\">ISBN: <\/strong><span>9789289062701<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"detail\">\n<div class=\"label\">Copyright<\/div>\n<p>                <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"creativecommons-icons-wrappers\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/bync-sa\/3.0\/igo\/deed.en\" rel=\"license\" title=\"Click here to see the details of CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/ResourcePackages\/WHO\/assets\/icons\/cc-icons\/cc.svg\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/ResourcePackages\/WHO\/assets\/icons\/cc-icons\/by.svg\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/ResourcePackages\/WHO\/assets\/icons\/cc-icons\/nc.svg\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/ResourcePackages\/WHO\/assets\/icons\/cc-icons\/sa.svg\"><br \/>\n                <\/a>\n        <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/9789289062701?rand=6398\" target=\"_blank\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download (1.2 MB) Overview Air quality indexes (AQIs) are widely used to communicate short-term air pollution concentrations and related health risks to the public. Conventional AQIs are typically formulated based on the concentration of the single air pollutant that most exceeds its regulatory standard (among all pollutants measured). Alternatively, health-based AQIs represent the combined health risks due to multiple air&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":99035,"featured_media":7745,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[782,1505,1504,1006,1175,783,1506],"ground_category":[315,316],"class_list":["post-7744","ground_post","type-ground_post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-air","tag-considerations","tag-indexes","tag-key","tag-practices","tag-quality","tag-roadmaps","ground_category-2-grounds-tribulation","ground_category-2-1-time-disease"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/0546abf3-542b-4184-9b02-82a2264d2cc9\/content","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/7744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ground_post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_post\/7744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7744"},{"taxonomy":"ground_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godshand.link\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_category?post=7744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}