Health impact assessment and evaluation of economic costs attributed to PM_2.5 air pollution using BenMAP-CE

Air pollution is considered the most prominent public health. Economically, air pollution imposes additional costs on governments. This study aimed to quantify health effects and associated economic values of reducing PM_2.5 air pollution using BenMAP-CE in Qom in 2019. The air quality data were acquired from Qom Province Environmental Protection Agency, and the population data were collected from Qom Province Management and Planning Organization website. The number of deaths due to Stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Lung Cancer, and Ischemic Heart Disease attributable to PM_2.5 were estimated using BenMAP-CE based on two control scenarios, 2.4 and 10 μg/m³, known as scenarios I and II, respectively. The associated economic effect of premature deaths was assessed by value of a statistical life (VSL) approach. The annual average of PM_2.5 concentration was found to be 16.32 μg/m³ (SD: 9.93). A total of 4694.5 and 2475.94 premature deaths in scenarios I and II were found to be attributable to PM_2.5 in overall, respectively. The total associated cost was calculated to be 855.91 and 451.40 million USD in scenarios I and II, respectively. The total years of life lost due to PM_2.5 exposure in 2019 was 158,657.06 and 78,351.51 in scenarios I and II, respectively. The results of both health and economic assessment indicate the importance of solving the air pollution problem in Qom, as well as other big cities in Iran. The elimination of limitations, such as insufficient local data, should be regarded in future studies.