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According to United Nations statistics, it is one of the main risk factors for death, causing approximately 8.1 million premature deaths per year from diseases such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.

Slovakia is among the countries that have a long-term problem with deteriorated air quality, which is also recognized by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic (MŽP SR). As part of the LIFE IP project - Improvement of air quality (abbreviated as Populair), the main coordinator of which is the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, a network of air quality managers was created, that actively help spread awareness about this issue in the field, educate students in schools and connect the tasks of the state administration with local governments and the public.

In cooperation with the municipalities and under the coordination of the relevant district offices in the regional headquarters, they made great efforts in creating a strategic document called the Air Quality Improvement Program (PZKO). The PZKO includes measures to gradually improve air quality and includes activities to eliminate the risk of exceeding the limit and target values ​​of pollutants. Air quality managers work closely with officies, where they provide expert advice and participate in the selection of appropriate measures to improve air quality.

The Populair project team was fundamentally involved in the preparation of the Obnov Dom Mini subsidy scheme. It targets energy-poor households in the Banská Bystrica and Košice self-governing regions that do not have enough financial resources to renovate their homes. The poor economic situation prevents residents from buying high-quality fuel for heating, they have old heating equipment or poorly insulated houses, which ultimately has a very negative effect on air quality. Renovate the house mini gives them the opportunity to replace the heating equipment or to insulate the family home, thereby contributing to cleaner air in Slovakia.

Another important activity is education in schools. The project organizes the activity "Go to school on your own", which is implemented in selected schools throughout Slovakia. It aims to support sustainable forms of mobility in the commuting of pupils to school and draw attention to the harmful effects of taking children to school by car. During the morning rush hour, air pollution from exhaust gases accumulates in front of schools, the excessive number of cars threatens the safety of children and deprives pupils of the opportunity for physical activity, socialization and independence. As part of this activity, air quality managers, together with teachers, parents and pupils, look for obstacles that prevent children from getting to school in ways other than by car and find possible solutions together.

On 7th September Populair will symbolically present the kite activity named Šarkaniáda, in which anyone across Slovakia can participate and help point out the importance of clean air. People can make their own kite, write their message on it, record a video or take a photo and submit it to the Populair Facebook event. The kite festival will take place from 4th to 14th October. The most beautiful outputs will be published on the populair.sk website.

International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is an important reminder that air pollution is a global problem with serious consequences for health and the environment. The Populair project, with the help of the mentioned activities, strategic documents and financial schemes, tries to achieve a real improvement of air quality in Slovakia, which can only be achieved thanks to joint efforts.