Welcome to PAPA-SAN, the
world’s largest database of research reports on the health effects
of air pollution in Asia.
The World Health Organization estimates
that urban air pollution contributed to approximately 800,000 deaths
and 6.4 million lost life-years worldwide in 2000 and that fully two-thirds
of these losses occurred in the developing countries of Asia.
such as these play an important role in environmental policy in Asia
and worldwide. They often rely, however, on the extrapolation to
Asian populations of the results of research conducted in the West,
where health status, health care, exposure to pollution, and socioeconomic
circumstances are often markedly different. Together, these factors
add considerable uncertainty to even the most careful estimates.
is a product of the Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA)
program of the Health Effects Institute. It was created to help researchers
studying the effects of air pollution in Asia and to provide policymakers,
international lending organizations, and other stakeholders with
information to help them make better-informed decisions. Find out more
more about the PAPA program and PAPA-SAN here.
PAPA-SAN currently includes
421 peer-reviewed reports published since 1980 on research conducted
in 11 Asian countries (Figure 1). For each report,
it provides key data, a brief summary of findings, and (when available)
a live link to the abstract. Results are presented in table form, sorted
in various useful ways (according to country or region, study design,
type of pollutant, and health outcome), and ready for downloading and
The listings in PAPA-SAN were
systematically compiled from the peer-reviewed scientific literature
in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean and are periodically updated.
PAPA-SAN now lists reports identified through September 2007; the current
update was released online in May 2008. Read more about our methods
In general, the studies listed in PAPA-SAN assessed ambient exposure
to various combinations of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants
and estimated the effects of exposure on human health by analyzing
such measures as daily mortality and hospital admissions.
You can learn more here about
reports’ results and
view or download a master table (Table
1. All Studies )
of key data from all reports (listed according to first author) and
subsidiary tables organized
by country or region, study design, pollutant, and health outcome,
as well as a table of newly identified reports.
You can find information here
study designs, pollutants,
and abbreviations commonly
used in air pollution research as well as more information on the
project’s staff and contributors.