Air pollution is a major environmental health threat and one of the main risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. Globally, air pollution is responsible for about 7 million premature deaths per year due to ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, but also from acute lower respiratory tract infections.

Despite most of health curricula do not address the health impacts of air pollution, the international community recently recognized that health workers have a more prominent role to play in the battle for clean air.

Mandated by its Member States, WHO is developing the Air Pollution and Health Training (APHT) toolkit for health workers.

The APHT toolkit is a set of materials designed to enable health workers, in both the clinical and public health fields, to understand the health risks of air pollution and identify risk reduction measures. Health workers can use the health argument to advocate for clean air interventions and promote the collaboration between civil society relevant actors and governmental institutions for policy implementation. Using a train-the-trainer approach, the APHT toolkit also helps facilitate the organization of in-person workshops, online courses and other learning opportunities.