Client/Funder: Global Challenges Research Fund (2021-2023)

Brief summary of work: The Factors Affecting Childhood Exposures to Urban Particulates (FACE-UP) project aims to reduce the lifetime vulnerability of urban children to noncommunicable diseases by reducing childhood exposure to particulate air pollution through suitable personal interventions. The FACE-UP study takes place in two urban sites with elevated levels of air pollution, these being Kathmandu, Nepal and Bandung, Indonesia. IOM has led an exposure monitoring campaign in which children carried low-cost sensors to measure particulate air pollution in their different microenvironments. IOM assessed how well face masks marketed to protect children from particulate air pollution fit their faces. IOM is also leading a work package where Health Impact Assessment is used to estimate the short and long–term reduction in disease associated with child mask-wearing in Indonesia and Nepal.

Collaborative partners: Durham University, Institut Teknologi Bandung (Indonesia), Universitas Indonesia, Nepal Health Research Council, World Health Organization, International Society for Respiratory Protection, UNICEF Indonesia, Indonesian Red Cross, Resilience Development Initiative (Indonesia), DLKH Kota Bandung (Indonesia), Kopernik, Nepal Red Cross Society, Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (Kathmandu), Nepal Pollution Control and Environmental Management Centre, WHO Nepal, Bandung Disaster Studies Group