Abstracts
Abstract
Jharkhand state in India has high levels of air pollution posing severe health and environmental hazards especially in mining districts. Ten grassroots women leaders undertook community-participatory research to track air quality in their neighbourhoods. Through this research, they assessed people’s perceptions on neighbourhood sources of air pollution, health impacts and responsiveness of the government health system to ailments linked to that air pollution. Their findings reveal poor air quality in places frequented by women, children, and vulnerable populations and further highlights adverse health impacts and the inadequate capacity of the government health system. This research enabled the women to initiate dialogues with different stakeholders on severity of the issue and corrective action needed, leading to initiation of measures to tackle air pollution at the neighbourhood level.
Keywords:
- Air pollution,
- Community action,
- Community-participatory research,
- Gender,
- Health,
- Women
Appendices
Bibliography
- Ablah, E., Brown, J., Carroll, B., & Bronleewe, T. (2016). A community-based participatory research approach to identifying environmental concerns. Journal of Environmental Health, 79(5), 14–19. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321795553_A_Community-Based_Participatory_Research_Approach_to_Identifying_Environmental_Concerns
- Ali, R., Olden, K., & Xu, S. (2008). Community-based participatory research: A vehicle to promote public engagement for environmental health in China. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(10), 1281–1284. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.11399
- Basu, J. (2023, July 13). Air pollution impacts villages and cities almost equally but pollution control funds only for urban India, shows analysis. Down to Earth. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/pollution/air-pollution-impacts-villages-and-cities-almost-equally-but-pollution-control-funds-only-for-urban-india-shows-analysis-90611#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Climate%20Trends,national%20limit%20is%2040%20microgrammes
- Chaudhary, E., Dey, S., Ghosh, S., Sharma, S., Singh, N., Agarwal, S., Tibrewal, K., Venkataraman, C., Kurpad, A. V., Cohen, A. J., Wang, S., & Jain, S. (2023). Reducing the burden of anaemia in Indian women of reproductive age with clean-air targets. Nat Sustain 5, 939–946 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00944-2
- Dey, S. (2021, June 3). Jharkhand second-worst performer in NITI Aayog’s SDG index. Hindustan Times. https://rb.gy/d7wu74
- GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators. (2020). Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 396(10258), 1223–1249. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30752-2
- Ghosh, S. (2022, October 3). Inhaling particulate matter is increasing the prevalence of anaemia among women of reproductive age. Mongabay. Available at: https://india.mongabay.com/2022/10/inhaling-particulate-matter-is-increasing-the-prevalence-of-anaemia-among-women-of-reproductive-age/
- Hagemeyer A. N., Sears C. G., and Zierold K. M. (2019). Respiratory health in adults residing near a coal-burning power plant with coal ash storage facilities: A cross-sectional epidemiological study. International Journal of Environmental Resesarch and Public Health, 16(19), 3642. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193642
- Health Effects Institute (HEI) (2019, April 3). State of global air report 2019 India-specific findings. Health Effects Institute. https://www.healtheffects.org/announcements/state-global-air-2019-air-pollution-significant-risk-factor-worldwide#:~:text=Here%20are%20 key%20findings%20in%20the%202019%20report%3A&text=Air%20pollution%20
- International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ICF. (2022). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21 Jharkhand State Report: India. Vol. 1. IIPS. Available at: https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR374/FR374_Jharkhand.pdf
- Israel, B. A., Parker, E. A., Rowe, Z., Salvatore, A., Minkler, M., López, J., Butz, A., Mosley, A., Coates, L., Lambert, G., Potito, P. A., Brenner, B., Rivera, M., Romero, H., Thompson, B., Coronado, G., & Halstead, S. (2005). Community-based participatory research: Lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(10), 1463–1471. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7675
- Israel, B. A., Schulz, A. J., Parker, E. A., & Becker, A. B. (1998). Review of community-based research: Assessing partnership approaches to improve public health. Annual Review of Public Health, 19, 173–202. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.19.1.173
- Khatri, P., & Kumar, P. (2022). A critical evaluation of air quality index models (1960–2021). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194, Article 324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-09896-8
- Lelieveld, J., Haines, A. , Burnett, R., Tonne, C., Klingmüller, K., Münzel, T., & Pozzer, A. (2023). Air pollution deaths attributable to fossil fuels: Observational and modelling study. BMJ 2023; 383. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-077784
- Limaye, V., & Sharma, R. (2023, July 26). India’s air pollution challenge spans rural and urban areas. Natural Resources Defense Council.
- Minkler, M., Vásquez, V. B., Chang, C., Miller, J., Rubin, V., Blackwell, A. G., Thompson, M., Flournoy, R., & Bell, J. (2008). Promoting healthy public policy through community-based participatory research: Ten case studies. PolicyLink & UC Berkeley School of Public Health. https://www.policylink.org/sites/default/files/CBPR_PromotingHealthyPublicPolicy_final.pdf
- Press Information Bureau. (2014, October 17). National Air Quality Index (AQI) launched by the Environment Minister. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=110654
- Pulido, L. (2017). Geographies of race and ethnicity II: Environmental racism, racial capitalism and state-sanctioned violence. Progress in Human Geography, 41(4), 524–533. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516646495
- Sharma, D., & Mauzerall, D. (2022). Analysis of air quality data in India between 2015 and 2019. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 22(1), 220204. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210820
- Singh, S., Avtar, R., Jain, A., Alsulamy, S., Ouda, M. M., & Kharrazi, A. (2025). Identifying micro-level pollution hotspots using Sentinel-5P for the spatial analysis of air quality degradation in the National Capital Region, India. Sustainability, 17(5), 2241. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052241
- Urban Emissions.Info (n.d.). Air Quality Analysis for Dhanbad-Bokaro, India. https://urbanemissions.info/india-apna/dhanbad-india/
- White, E. B., & Ekenga, C. C. (2024). Multidimensional structural racism and estimated cancer risk from traffic-related air pollution. Cancer, 130(16), 2601–2611. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35467
- World Bank (2024, June 5), How is India trying to address air pollution? https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/publication/catalyzing-clean-air-in-india