2024 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 49-60
Biomass burning is the main source of air pollution in many countries and has been strongly linked to many morbid and mortal health outcomes. This scoping review aims to explore the current and emerging approaches linking health and air pollution from biomass burning. A literature search through PubMed was conducted to identify studies linking health and air pollution from biomass burning through the use of air quality data collection methods. A total of 197 studies were initially found, but after screening, only 57 studies were included. The most common methodology employed for air quality data was through atmospheric transport models (specifically GEOS-Chem) (59.65%), followed by remote sensing through satellite imaging (50.88%), then by direct site monitors (33.33%). A single approach was used by 56.14%, while the rest employed a blended approach (43.86%), likely due to the inherent limitations of each data collection method, necessitating supplementary or novel approaches. However, the bulk of existing literature uses methods that are calibrated for the global north (75.44%), leaving behind the global south, which bears the brunt of air pollution health impacts due to its socioeconomic and geographic vulnerabilities, worsened by climate change. There is a need to recalibrate or validate these models to increase the reliability of results for the global south, as well as explore the possibility of further developing these air pollution modeling initiatives to not only contribute to surveillance, but directly further policy development and public health programming (i.e., the creation of early warning systems).
