What is the Air Quality Health Index?
The Air Quality Health Index or “AQHI” is a tool to help protect your health. Using a scale from 1 to 10 and the words low, moderate, high, and very high, it measures current levels of outdoor air pollution and related health risk. It can help you decide when it is safe to be active outside, especially if you have a health condition such as lung or heart disease.
The AQHI informs both the general population and those at higher risk from air pollution-seniors, those with heart or lung disease, children, and people physically active outdoors. Click to learn more about populations at greater risk from air pollution.
Want to learn more about health effects, who is at risk, and useful health tips? Click www.airhealth.ca
What we measure
We measure three air pollutants to calculate the AQHI:
- ground-level ozone (O3)
- particulate matter (PM2.5)
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
We use these to estimate the combined risk of outdoor air pollution for communities. Get more information.
Development of the AQHI
In 2001, the federal government began developing the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) in partnership with provincial governments and non-governmental organizations across Canada. The index is based on extensive research by Health Canada. The AQHI considers the immediate (or short-term) human health risks associated with the combined effects of air pollution. This differs from past air quality indices (AQI) which do not focus on human health and are typically based on levels of individual air pollutants.
AQHI information for other provinces is also available.