Population health as a target function and criterion for assessing efficiency of activities performed within “Pure air” federal project

We took several cities (Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, and Chita) included as priority ones into the “Pure air” federal project as an example and showed that it was not sufficient to only aim at reducing gross emissions of pollutants and apply it as a criterion to assess efficiency of air-protecting activities performed in a city. Health risk calculations, and comparative analysis of risk assessment and medical statistical data on population applying for medical aid, combined with the results of profound targeted examinations, revealed that medical and demographic losses (additional population mortality and morbidity) occurred due to a significant number of chemical admixtures, including those, who were not included into a list of pollutants which had to be reduced. Consequently, air-protecting activities don’t necessarily result in relevant improvement of a sanitary-hygienic and medical-demographic situation. Residual health risks still remain high. We showed that there were several significant aspects related to developing and working out in detail complex regional action plans within the “Pure air” federal project...