Air Pollution in Kazakhstan and Its Health Risk Assessment.

Background: Air pollution in Kazakhstan is caused by many factors and poses serious threats to public health. Ambient air in the cities of Kazakhstan is polluted due to mining and processing of mineral resources, oil and gas production, gasoline and diesel fuel motor vehicles, industrial enterprises. Objective: The study aim is to assess the air pollution degree in most significant settlements of Kazakhstan and define risk levels for the population health. Ambient air monitoring was conducted in 26 cities. Air pollution severity was assessed by the analysis results and processing of air samples taken at the stationary observation posts. Health risk assessment due to chemical factors was calculated according to the approved risk assessment methodology. Findings: There is high risk of acute adverse effects risk from suspended particles, oxides and dioxides of nitrogen and sulfur in almost all of the studied cities. The most unfavorable situation is in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Also, there is the adverse chronic effects risk caused by suspended particles exposure in majority of the studied cities. Extremely high chronic effects risk as a result of heavy metals exposure was detected in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Shymkent, Almaty, Taraz and Balkhash. Unacceptable carcinogenic risk levels have been determined for professional groups and the whole population with respect to cadmium in Shymkent, Almaty, Balkhash; arsenic in Shymkent, Almaty, Balkhash; lead in Taraz; chromium - in Shymkent, Aktobe, Almaty and Balkhash. Thus, the values of the hazard quotients and indices for acute and chronic exposure in most of the studied cities of Kazakhstan exceed the permissible level equal to 1.0. Conclusion: Due to the unacceptable risk levels in the cities it is strongly recommended to conduct a detailed study of the health status of the population depending on the air pollution.

[Hygienic evaluation and prediction of population morbidity in the region of the Karachaganak field].

The state of pollution of the environment in the area of operation of the Karachaganak oil and gas field depends on the development and operation of oil and gas objects. According to the analysis of retrospective studies, periods of the increase in air pollution have two peaks occurring in 1990 and 1997. However, these negative environmental moments are significantly different. In 1990, due to a sharp increase in the production of hydrocarbon crude, as well as the low efficiency of gas cleaning devices air pollution has increased significantly. The second period was characterized by a slight increase in the concentration of nitrogen dioxide only that was directly connected to the introduction of new technologies reducing environmental pollution. At the same time, the average population morbidity rate in settlement Berezovka is 336.8 cases per 1,000 surveyed, which is lower in 1.6 times than the reference data in the control townships. The leading place in the structure of morbidity are taken by digestive diseases, respiratory diseases and diseases of the nervous system, diseases of the eye and its appendages, diseases of the genitourinary system, diseases of the circulatory system, accounting for 87.6% of all diseases of the surveyed residents of settlement Berezovka. There was shown a multi-dimensional model of the dependence of general population morbidity in settlement Berezovka on the concentration of SO2 and NO2 in air. Also found depending on the influence of the concentrations of H2S, SO2 and NO2 in the air on the population on basic classes of diseases.