Air pollution and its health impacts in Malaysia: a review

• Published in: Air quality, atmosphere and health atmosphere and health, 2020-09, Vol.13 (9), p.1093-1118
• Main Authors: Usmani, Raja Sher Afgun, Saeed, Anum, Abdullahi, Akibu Mahmoud, Pillai, Thulasyammal Ramiah, Jhanjhi, Noor Zaman, Hashem, Ibrahim Abaker Targio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air monitoring; Air pollution; Air quality; Air quality standards; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Climate change; Developing countries; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Environmental monitoring; Fossil fuels; Fuel combustion; Haze; Haze effects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Industrial development; Industrialization; LDCs; Monitoring systems; Motivation; Outdoor air quality; Ozone; Pollutants; Pollution monitoring; Pollution sources; Prediction models; Research projects; Transboundary pollution
• ISSN: 1873-9318; 1873-9326
• DOI: 10.1007/s11869-020-00867-x

Air pollution is strongly tied to climate change. Industrialization and fossil fuel combustion are the main contributors leading to climate change, also being significant sources of air pollution. Malaysia is a developing country with a focus on industrialization. The preference of using private cars is a common practice in Malaysia, resulting in the after-effects of haze and transboundary air pollution. Hence, air pollution has become a severe issue in Malaysia in recent times. Exposure to air pollutants such as ozone and airborne particles is associated with increases in hospital admissions and mortality. For the past few years, the focus of the research is moving towards air quality and the impacts of air pollution on health in Malaysia. In this study, we establish the definition of air pollution, the motivation to study it, and its impacts and sources of air pollution and climate change. We discuss the air quality monitoring system in Malaysia and compare Malaysian ambient air quality standards with global standards. We also look comprehensively on the health impacts of air pollution globally and in the Malaysian context. We discuss where the health impact studies in Malaysia are lacking and what are the gaps in the research. The role of the Malaysian government concerning air pollution and its impacts is discussed. Lastly, we look into the future work and research opportunities with a focus on engineering, estimation, predictive models and lack of research projects.