Air pollution is a crisis with global impact: 92% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits and 3 million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution. The resulting three main health challenges are: (i) on-site-measurements to determine the true exposure situation, (ii) population-based epidemiological studies to identify the resulting health effects and (iii) mechanistic studies on air pollution-induced health damage in order to be able to develop tailored preventive strategies. In order to be effective, it is crucial that all three challenges are tackled at the same time in an integrated research approach. Because of their specific socio-economical situation, different countries, however, have very different priorities when it comes to meet these challenges. The goal of this symposium is therefore to foster international exchange and collaborations between scientists from South Africa, BRIC States and Germany in an attempt to overcome these differences.

The scientific coordinators of the symposium are Professor Jean Krutmann ML, Scientific Manager of the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany, on the side of Leopoldina; and on the side of ASSAf, Dr Caradee Wright, Specialist Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council, Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 2015, the Leopoldina and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) initiated a joint series on environment and health. The upcoming symposium is the second event within this series and it takes place in cooperation with the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf.

*ML - Member of the Leopoldina

Image: © Maxim - fotolia