In recent years, air pollution in China especially in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) had drastically increased. The annual mean ground level concentrations of PM2.5 were modelled based on worldwide satellite information and meteorological data from 40 cities outside the PRD. In order to estimate the annual mean concentration of PM2.5 in the PRD, the spatial –temporal dimensions of the model was validated. Meta-analysis was then used to assess health impacts and pooled excess risks of mortality in China. Results from the models and analyses revealed excess death rates were 2006 and 1069 per million people and the associated deaths for all cause and cardiopulmonary diseases were 3,386 and 2,639 respectively.

Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) launched by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006, does not provide sufficient information on health impacts and relationships between short-term and annual AQG needed for health protection. This study focused on testing whether relationships between WHO short-term and annual AQG for PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 were consistent worldwide by obtaining air pollutant data over seven years (2004-2010) in seven Asia-Pacific cities, North America and Europe. Annual limits for SO2 and O3 based on the short-term AQG were also collected. A new method was developed based on the probability distribution concept, which was used to derive limit value one from another in each paired limits for each pollutant with the capability to account for allowable exceedances. Results revealed the pool mean short-term limit for NO2 was way lower than WHO-AQG (200 µg/m3). PM10 and PM2.5 limits were similar to WHO-AQG. In conclusion, WHO needs to lower the short-term AQG for NO2 for concordance with the selected annual AQG for health protection. Unlike NO2, empirical data from all seven cities for PM10 and PM2.5 supported the distribution relationship between the current short-term and annual WHO-AQG.

In South East Asia, global marine vessels has an impact on human health. In the Pearl River Delta (PRD) health burdens from both ocean and river going vessels are not quantified. In order to quantify these health effects, this study estimated the potential health impacts using pooled relative risks of mortality and hospital admissions in China and model derived concentration of major pollutants (SO2, PM10, NO2 and O3) due to marine vessels emission. In the PRD area the number of natural deaths were less than the hospital admissions from cardiorespiratory causes attributable to the pollutants studied. In conclusion, marine emission control measures could contribute to a large reduction in mortality and hospital admissions in the PRD regions especially in Hong Kong.