Community Perception about Air Pollution, Willingness to Pay and Awareness about Health Risks in Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT

Air pollution is one of the major risk factors for mortality, as per the Global Burden of Diseases. Various natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to air pollution, which makes air quality worse. Community perceptions of air pollution are crucial in deciding how people will react and whether they will accept relevant policies. Therefore, people's awareness, behavior and perception must be known to engage communities in air pollution reduction. This study aimed to determine the levels and correlations between people's perceptions of pollution and health risk before COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 period in Chandigarh. The study was conducted following the interview schedule methodology using a standard questionnaire. Univariate and air pollution hotspot analysis was conducted to assess the correlation of variables and to evaluate the spatial variation in the perceived levels. The results revealed that 79.9% of respondents were worried about the city's air quality. It was observed that 39.2% of study participants perceived that automobile emissions were the primary source of air pollution. Association of sociodemographic factors with the awareness of air pollution, health effects, and people's attitudes was also assessed. The study observed a strong correlation between people's education status and their knowledge of air pollution during the COVID-19 period (p-value=0.064) and the pre-COVID period (p-value=0.035). On assessing the air quality perception and respondent's happiness as a place to live, participants' happiness was found to be strongly correlated with their neighborhood as a place to live with their opinion of the air quality (p-value=0.000). However, this correlation was insignificant during the COVID-19 period (p-value=0.192). Respondents perceived that exposure to air pollution is related to respiratory and chest problems. A linear relationship was observed between people's willingness to improve air quality and awareness, which shows a statistically significant association (0.076 and 0.001) during the COVID-19 and pre-COVID period. People's attitudes and actions towards air pollution suggested that people are willing to pay to mitigate air pollution to enhance environmental sustainability and quality of life.