INEGI’s indoor air quality expert helps World Health Organization define guidelines

At the invitation of the World Health Organization (WHO), INEGI, represented by researcher Marta Gabriel, has been collaborating with the organization's efforts to standardize the diagnosis of indoor air quality, in particular with regard to its influence on children's health.

The invitation to participate in the expert consultation was made for the first time in 2018, and has been renewed annually. Under the status of temporary advisor, Marta Gabriel has been participating in discussion sessions organized by WHO to define the contents of various official documents, the most recent publication being dedicated to "Methods for the sampling and analysis of chemical pollutants in indoor air (2020)” (available here).

The specialist consultation that resulted in this publication aims to define strategies for monitoring the most common chemical pollutants in public spaces for children (schools, kindergartens and daycare centers), and intends to contribute to the development and implementation of a tool that evaluates the risks that combined exposure to multiple chemical pollutants can pose to children's health.

As a researcher, Marta Gabriel participated in national and international projects, most of them related to the problem of indoor air quality, which has been gaining increasing expression due to the rapid expansion of diseases, the cause of which is often attributed to it.

This experience was instrumental in playing the role of a consultant within the scope of WHO activities. As Marta Gabriel points out, "the invitation was welcomed s with great enthusiasm for the opportunity to actively participate in the work that WHO has been doing to ensure that schools are environments that truly promote knowledge and health".

For this agency, an entity specialized in health subordinated to the United Nations (UN), scientific evidence proves the importance of clean air for health and well-being, which is why its mission is to stimulate the debate and definition of health policies to reduce air pollution.