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Air pollution interventions for health

Nature Medicine volume 31, pages 2888–2900 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Air pollution, a leading environmental health risk, claims millions of lives yearly, impacting health across the lifespan. Despite widespread acknowledgement of air pollution-related disease burdens, eliminating air pollution remains challenging. Many regions are reliant on fossil fuels or biomass for basic survival, and developed economies striving to reduce air pollution face persistent barriers. Climate change complicates intervention efforts, as rising temperatures and extreme weather (for example, wildfires, dust storms) intensify air pollution. Traditional interventions may falter under worsening climate conditions, requiring integrated mitigation, adaptation and resilient infrastructure to yield environmental and health benefits. In this narrative Review, we evaluate multilevel interventions at the national, community and individual levels, discussing what works and does not work, with illustrative case examples. No single intervention suffices; efficacy depends on context, shaped by enforcement and equity. Integrated strategies are needed to address the root causes of air pollution and mitigate the devastating health impacts.

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Fig. 1: Pathophysiology of air pollution exposure and its multisystem health effects.
Fig. 2: Air pollution interventions by pollutant type.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Z. Tao for formatting and drafting the figures, Y. H. Jia for organizing literature searches, N. L. Sieber for contributions to human physiology in Fig. 1 and J. J. Zhang and S. Wang for their expertise in the environmental chemistry of Fig. 2. J.S.J. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant (82422064).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    John S. Ji

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Francesca Dominici

  3. Harvard Data Science Initiative, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Francesca Dominici

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Nelson Gouveia

  5. Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Frank J. Kelly

  6. Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

    Maria Neira

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  5. Maria Neira
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Correspondence to John S. Ji.

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Ji, J.S., Dominici, F., Gouveia, N. et al. Air pollution interventions for health. Nat Med 31, 2888–2900 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03929-8

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