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Forest fires, air pollution, and mortality in Southeast Asia

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Demography

Abstract

I assess the population health effects in Malaysia of air pollution from a widespread series of fires that occurred in Indonesia between April and November of 1997. I describe how the fires occurred and why the associated air pollution was so widespread and long lasting. The main objective is to uncover any mortality effects and to assess how large and important they were. I also investigate whether the mortality effects were persistent or whether they represented a short-term, mortality-harvesting effect. The results show that the smoke haze from the fires had a deleterious effect on the health of the population in Malaysia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RAND, 1700 Main Street, PO Box 2138, 90407-2138, Santa Monica, CA

    Narayan Sastry

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  1. Narayan Sastry
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Correspondence to Narayan Sastry.

Additional information

This research was supported by the Ford Foundation through a grant to RAND. The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful contributions of Wolfgang von Hoyningen-Huene, Omi Kelsom, Chan Ah Kee, Dan McCaffrey, Stan Panis, Anne Pebley, and Stephanie Williamson.

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Sastry, N. Forest fires, air pollution, and mortality in Southeast Asia. Demography 39, 1–23 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2002.0009

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