空气质量监测与城乡健康差距

Abstract

Among the 1497 air quality monitoring stations nationwide, 98.5% are located within urban built-up areas, with scarcely any deployed in counties, towns, or villages—demonstrating a pronounced urban bias. This study treats the establishment of air quality monitoring stations as a quasi-natural experiment to identify their impact on urban-rural health disparities. The results indicate that the health-inequality effect associated with these stations has already emerged, primarily reflected in the incidence of asthma, which has a relatively short latency period; this effect stems from post-installation differences in pollutant distribution between urban and rural areas. Moreover, because of the presence of air quality monitors, urban residents are more likely than their rural counterparts to utilize preventive products and access healthcare facilities.