Maintain healthy air by covering all potential sources of air pollution
Clean air is one of the environmental factors that contributes to the health of an individual as the absence of it contributes to a variety of disease processes especially those affecting the respiratory health. The target population of this policy is the entirety of Filipinos who are constantly exposed to air pollution brought by vehicular fumes, industrial facility wastes and other air contaminants inside and outside their homes. Improving air quality mainly brings health benefits as it can reduce chronic and acute respiratory diseases, decrease allergies and asthma symptoms and lower risks of other lung, heart and arterial diseases (AirDri, 2022). Environmental wise, healthy air policies helps tackle climate change as it addresses the abundance of air pollutants such as methane, black carbon and other greenhouse gases. (Bruyninckx, 2017).
In a past political action in managing air quality, Manila City has joined the BreatheLife campaign in committing to achieve safe and healthy air by 2030 at the Climate Action Summit in 2019 (BreatheLife, 2020). As a student residing in Manila, the air quality still needs a lot of improvement but the efforts of the people in reducing emissions such as using electric vehicles and solar panels are evident. With 8 more years until 2030, I think that if the local government continue to implement these commitments, Manila City would be able to achieve its goal of having cleaner and safer air.
References:
AirDri. (2022). The Heath Benefits of Cleaner Air. https://www.airdri.com/blog/the-health-benefits-of-cleaner-air/
BreatheLife. (2020). Manila City joins the BreatheLife campaign, commits to safe air by 2030. https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/news/manila-city-joins-breathelife-campaign-commits-safe-air-2030
Bryuninckx, H. (2017). Cleaner air benefits human health and climate change. https://www.eea.europa.eu/articles/cleaner-air-benefits-human-health