Assessment of the health impact from air pollution in Ravenna (Italy) using the EVA model

The aim of this work is to assess the health impact from air pollution in Ravenna, a small Italian city located in the Pianura Padana. In this area the environmental pressure, because of air pollution, is worsened by unfavourable meteorological conditions. In fact Ravenna, in addition to being a large industrial area and one of the most important commercial harbours of Italy, has a temperate-continental climate characterised by a high relative humidity, because of the presence of fog, frequent thermal inversions during the winter and frequent conditions of wind lull. Because of these peculiar meteorological conditions and high pollutant emissions, e.g. from intense industrial activities, often alarming levels of air pollution occur, giving public health concern. These conditions stimulated the present study of the effects of air pollution on health in the area of Ravenna using the EVA model. This system was developed in the Atmospheric Modelling (ATMO) section of the Environmental Science Department of the Aarhus University (DK) to assess health-related economic externalities of air pollution, considering the main emission sectors and quantifying their relative importance in term of impacts on human health.