Cost-effectiveness of air purifiers against pollution

Abstract

The goal for this post is to give an introduction into the human health effects of air pollution, encourage further discussion, and evaluate an intervention: The use of air purifiers in homes. These air purifiers are inexpensive, standalone devices not requiring any special installation procedure. This particular intervention was selected out of personal interest, not because I believe it’s particularly effective. It’s plausible that other interventions against air pollution would be much better - for example, providing more people with clean energy for cooking. We will investigate what it costs to significantly reduce personal exposure to the most damaging form of particulate matter (PM2.5) using these devices. A first analysis suggests that the cost-effectiveness of this intervention is two orders of magnitude worse than the best EA interventions. However, it is still good enough to qualify as an “effective” or even “highly effective” health intervention according to WHO criteria.