Abstract
On the basis of PM2.5 data of the national air quality monitoring sites, local population data, and baseline all-cause mortality rate, PM2.5-related health economic benefits of the Air Improvement Action Plan implemented in Wuhan in 2013–2017 were investigated using health-impact and valuation functions. Annual avoided premature deaths driven by the average concentration of PM2.5 decrease were evaluated, and the economic benefits were computed by using the value of statistical life (VSL) method. Results showed that the number of avoided premature deaths in Wuhan are 21,384 (95% confidence interval (CI): 15,004 to 27,255) during 2013–2017, due to the implementation of the Air Improvement Action Plan. According to the VSL method, the obtained economic benefits of Huangpi, Wuchang, Hongshan, Xinzhou, Jiang’an, Hanyang, Jiangxia, Qiaokou, Jianghan, Qingshan, Caidian, Dongxihu, and Hannan District were 8.55, 8.19, 8.04, 7.39, 5.78, 4.84, 4.37, 4.04, 3.90, 3.30, 2.87, 2.42, and 0.66 billion RMB (1 RMB = 0.1417 USD On 14 October 2019), respectively. These economic benefits added up to 64.35 billion RMB (95% CI: 45.15 to 82.02 billion RMB), accounting for 4.80% (95% CI: 3.37% to 6.12%) of the total GDP of Wuhan in 2017. Therefore, in the process of formulating a regional air quality improvement scheme, apart from establishing hierarchical emission-reduction standards and policies, policy makers should give integrated consideration to the relationship between regional economic development, environmental protection and residents’ health benefits. Furthermore, for improving air quality, air quality compensation mechanisms can be established on the basis of the status quo and trends of air quality, population distribution, and economic development factors.
Highlights
In recent years, with the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the consumption of energy resources has continued to increase, and China is suffering from a relatively severe situation of air pollution [1,2]
Dai et al quantitatively evaluated the public health benefits of Shanghai’s Clean Air Action Plan (2013–2017), and the results showed that the total health benefits realized by Shanghai were 11.841 billion RMB, accounting for 0.55% of Shanghai’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013 [17]
The major aims of this study were: (1) to estimate the annual average concentration of PM2.5 decrease in 13 districts in Wuhan from 2013 to 2017 by using monitoring data derived from nationally controlled sites and the Voronoi neighbor averaging (VNA) interpolation method; (2) to explore the avoided premature mortalities attributed to PM2.5 reductions for all districts in Wuhan on the basis of local demographic data, baseline all-cause mortality rate, and health impact functions; (3) to calculate the economic benefits of reducing PM2.5 concentration using the value of statistical life (VSL) method; (4) to evaluate the effectiveness and pitfalls of the Air Improvement Action Plan in Wuhan
Summary
With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the consumption of energy resources has continued to increase, and China is suffering from a relatively severe situation of air pollution [1,2]. Facing the increasing pressure for air pollution prevention, the Chinese government promulgated and implemented the most stringent atmospheric pollution action plan in. China’s history: the Action Plan of Air Pollution Control (hereinafter referred to as “Ten Measures for Air”) on 12 September 2013 [3]. The main cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chengdu enacted the Action Plan to improve air quality. For the 74 key cities of China, annual average concentration of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) dropped. Public Health 2020, 17, 620; doi:10.3390/ijerph17020620 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
