Air quality, health and learning Sara Ahern Research Fellow,
Bradford Institute for Health Research @dr_sara_ahern Email us:
[email protected]; follow us
@[email protected] Public Forum for Education,
24 th June 2015
Slide 2
Air pollution in Bradford Bradford, 1873 Clean Air Acts 1956 +
1968 great improvements in air quality
Slide 3
Air pollution in Bradford Copyright Ruth Sharville and licensed
for reuse under this Creative Commons LicenceRuth
SharvillereuseCreative Commons Licence Bradford, 2015 air pollution
much less visible But still some of the poorest air quality in the
country has a negative impact on our health
Slide 4
Sources of air pollution Nitrogen Oxides (NO x ) Particulate
Matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) Ozone (O 3 ) Sulphur Dioxide (SO 2 )
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Slide 5
Air pollution and health children and older people are
particularly vulnerable as well as people with breathing or heart
problems linked to: heart disease and coronary events COPD stroke
certain cancers asthma low birth weight babies neurodevelopmental
issues poor cognition
Slide 6
Air pollution and inequalities 0 - 0.1 most deprived 0.9 - 1
least deprived High levels of NO 2 Low levels of NO 2 Adapted from
Bradford Low Emissions Strategy 2012 (Page 15)
Slide 7
Air pollution and low birth weight ESCAPE Project
www.escapeproject.eu
Slide 8
ESCAPE Project
Slide 9
Impact on learning Direct effects poorer working memory poorer
motor skills smaller improvement in cognitive development Indirect
effects low birth weight - associated with higher rates of illness
and neurodevelopmental problems school attendance - lost days as a
result of illness
Slide 10
So what is BiB doing? HELIX Project www.projecthelix.eu
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So what is BiB doing? HELIX Project www.projecthelix.eu
Slide 12
So what is BiB doing? Playground Project
Slide 13
So what is BiB doing?
Slide 14
Air quality and active travel What influences parents choice of
transport for school journeys? What barriers exist to walking or
cycling to school? What makes it easier to walk or cycle to school?
How can we increase active travel and reduce exposure?
Slide 15
5 primary schools in West Yorkshire (2 in Bradford) Aim to
recruit and interview ~ 40 parents Mix of: ~10 interviews with head
teachers and parent involvement workers Progress: 15 parents
recruited and 10 parent interviews completed Air quality and active
travel
Slide 16
What weve heard so far From parents: From schools: there is too
much traffic there are too many cars parked along the road If it
was closer Id be more likely to walk. Its too far, my child gets
tired. Its not just our parents, its the fact that theres so many
schools in this area We would be worried about sustainability.
Slide 17
Analysis Collate findings from interviews Intervention
development Work with stakeholders to develop a programme which
will: encourage active travel reduce exposure to pollution as far
as possible Feasibility study Test how acceptable the programme is
in practice Establish how successful the programme is in meeting
aims Next steps.