Webinar: The Fading Role of Public Health in Air Quality Management: Insights from Morocco
Globalsmog Seminar Series #7 Morocco
Celia Mir Álvarez | 7-May-2025 10:30 AM CET, 2:00 PM IST
Air pollution is responsible for 7 million annual deaths and is a particular concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of this mortality is concentrated. This issue is frequently framed as a health concern by international actors such as the World Health Organization and the World Bank. Similarly, indications are that air pollution usually settles as a public problem in a given location after the alarm is sounded by health experts or after a severe pollution episode leads to important and immediate health impacts, such as the London smog of 1952. However, despite their initial involvement, public health professionals rarely play a leading role in air quality management at national and local levels today. Why is this the case? While some scholars have noted this shift, few have examined the underlying reasons that may explain it.
This presentation aims to further investigate this observation by tracing the activities of public health actors in managing the air pollution problem in Morocco. I will explore whistleblowing by health experts in the country over 20 years ago, the actors that held key governance positions in the ensuing air quality policies, the influence of transnational public health organizations (like the WHO) in health agenda-setting in the country, and surveillance capabilities for air pollution-related illnesses. In doing so, I will shed light on some of the infrastructural, institutional, and political barriers that may explain the weak role of the health sector in air quality management in the country today. Finally, I will conclude by engaging with ongoing discussions, which to date have been limited, on the role of public and global health actors in air quality management – and environmental health more broadly – in LMICs, at all levels of governance.
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