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Air quality |
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The Air Quality Health Index is a new tool that measures air quality in terms of your health.
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What is the Air Quality Health Index? |
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The Air Quality Health Index is a scale that measures the health risk associated with local air pollution levels.
The Air Quality Health Index helps individuals make decisions to protect their health by providing information on the level of risk associated with pollution levels and identifying those at risk.
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How does the Air Quality Health Index work? |
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The Air Quality Health Index is measured on a coloured scale of 1 to 10+. The higher the reading, the greater the health risk and hence the greater the need to take precautions.
One important feature of the Air Quality Health Index is its ability to enable individuals to assess their own health risk based on symptoms they experience, even if they have no known health problems. Once individuals learn what Index reading triggers their own symptoms, they can use the Index forecasts to plan their outdoor activities.
The Air Quality Health Index provides different messages to those who are more sensitive to air pollution than to the general population. The Index enables everyone to take the appropriate actions to protect their health. Individuals can check the Air Quality Health Index on a regular basis to find out how they can best be protected from air pollution.
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How does the Air Quality Health Index protect human health? |
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The Air Quality Health Index has been designed so users can easily understand at what point on the scale their health may be negatively affected by air pollution. The health messages associated with the various levels of air pollution are different for those who are sensitive to air pollution compared to the general population. This enables people at risk to take protective actions at lower pollution levels than the general population.
The at-risk group includes children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing heart and breathing problems.
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How can using the Air Quality Health Index protect my health and the health of my family? |
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The Air Quality Health Index helps you understand your response to different pollution levels to help you plan and enjoy outdoor physical activities at times when health risks are low. Planning your outdoor physical activity when the Index reading is low can maximize the health benefits of exercise while minimizing exposure to the pollutants that are common in the air.
As air pollution levels increase, people experience increased risk to health. People with heart and lung conditions are most affected by air pollution and should pay special attention to how they react during physical activities and consider the Air Quality Health Index levels.
To reduce the intake of pollutants, you can either reduce the intensity of physical activity or shift activity to a time when pollution levels are lower. By checking the current and forecasted Air Quality Health Index readings, you can benefit from outdoor physical activities while better protecting yourself from air pollution.
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What is the difference between the existing Air Quality Index and the new Air Quality Health Index? |
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Despite their similar names, the national Air Quality Health Index and the current provincial Air Quality Index are two very different tools that serve different purposes, as shown in the table below:
| Differences |
Air Quality Index (Ontario) |
Air Quality Health Index (National Pilot) |
| Jurisdiction |
Provincial - Ontario Ministry of the Environment |
National - Environment Canada and Health Canada |
| Reports |
Air quality |
Health risk |
| Pollutants |
Based on single highest pollutant |
Based on health effects of multiple pollutants |
| Health messages |
Same for all populations |
Different for at-risk versus general population |
| Scale |
A scale of 0 to 100+ |
A scale of 1 to 10+ |
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Where can I find the Air Quality Health Index? |
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The Air Quality Health Index is updated several times a day. You can obtain the current and next day readings for the City of Toronto through Environment Canada's weather forecast. |
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Where can I get more information about the Air Quality Health Index? |
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For more information on the national Air Quality Health Index, visit Environment Canada's web site at www.airhealth.ca. |
Links to sites external to the Toronto Public Health Web site are provided as a convenience and their inclusion does not imply that Toronto Public Health endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content or use of these sites.
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