Get qualified help
ActSmall · Air is informational. For air-quality concerns, breathing symptoms, or any incident, ask qualified people in your community — not this site.
Not medical or engineering advice. This site does not diagnose conditions, prescribe treatment, or specify ventilation engineering. Use the contacts and references below.
If you or someone is having trouble breathing
If anyone is in respiratory distress, has chest pain, persistent coughing fits, severe wheezing, blue lips, or any other emergency symptom — call your local emergency number first. Do not delay to read this page.
- Your local emergency number (e.g. 112, 911, 999, 119, 000, or your country’s equivalent).
- The nearest clinic or hospital.
- A community health worker or trained first responder.
- For carbon monoxide or chemical exposure: a poisons information centre — ask a clinician or local health office for the number in your region.
For air-quality information specific to your area
- Anywhere — OpenAQ (the same archive this map pulls from). Find your nearest station and the agency that runs it.
- Your local environmental-health department or air-quality regulator — the source of record for your country.
- European Union — European Environment Agency Air Index.
- United Kingdom — Defra UK-AIR.
- India — Central Pollution Control Board.
- China — Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
- Brazil — CETESB QUALAR (São Paulo state, the most comprehensive national feed).
- Australia — DCCEEW air quality.
- Canada — Air Quality Health Index (ECCC).
- South Africa — SAAQIS.
- United States — AirNow (US EPA + state agencies). National AQI by ZIP code, smoke maps, and the official AQI guide.
For health questions about air pollution exposure
- Your primary-care clinician, particularly if anyone in the household has asthma, COPD, cardiovascular disease, or is pregnant.
- WHO — Air pollution and the 2021 Global Air Quality Guidelines.
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control — Health effects of air pollution.
- US CDC — Air quality.
- For wildfire smoke: WHO’s wildfire health Q&A globally, plus the AirNow wildfire smoke guide (US-style protocols that translate well anywhere).
External organisations linked elsewhere on this site are independent third parties; ActSmall does not control their content. Always defer to qualified local help.