Air quality and health information systems in Latin America and Caribbean: ¿are they a proxy of social disparities between countries?

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Poor air quality is one of the main public health problems around world and it’s the fourth risk factor for death. For 2019, 6.7 million deaths were attributed to it. Among countries in the same region, local air pollution and its impacts show unequal management due to socioeconomic disparities. Assuming that the presence of “Air Quality and Health Information Systems” (AQHIS) can be a proxy for environmental public health management at the national level, this research compared some socioeconomic characteristics between countries with and without AQHIS in the Latin American and Caribbean region. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out between 20118 and 2019, in which socioeconomic, environmental and health characteristics were analyzed. The information was obtained from free access databases, that were found in online repositories of multilateral institutions (UNESCO, UNDP, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank and PAHO). A univariate analysis for each characteristic studied were made and they were compared between countries as they had or not AQHIS. RESULTS:According to official pages environmental or health authority, 26% of countries in the region had HAQIS, only three analyzed health indicators in relation to air quality phenomenon. Differences between the countries with and without HAQIS regarding the number of inhabitants were found, reporting a greater number of people in those with an information system (p= 0.000), and higher proportion of cities with more than one million inhabitants (92.3% vs. 10.8%, p = 0.000). A lower average of years of schooling was reported in countries with AQHIS (p = 0.22). Similar findings were found for other socioeconomic indicators. CONCLUSIONS:Differences were identified for some socioeconomic indicators in relation to the existence of AQHIS in the region. An analysis of the regional context is necessary to understand how this indicator could reflect some social disparities in environmental health. KEYWORDS: Information System, Air Pollution, Health, Latin America and Caribbean region