The Healthy Homes & Retirement Villages took place on 15 April, in Wisma REHDA.  A selection of local and international industry experts shared their views and experiences on the future of healthy homes amid this pandemic and the potential of developing retirement villages to house the future of the elderly in Malaysia.

In a 30 min session, Prof Hans Weemaes, Managing Director NEAPOLI covered the importance of our home’s location, material selection and indoor air quality for our health and overall wellbeing amid this unprecedented health crisis.

He highlighted that indoor air quality is contributing to millions of deaths globally, and that indoor air can be up to 8 times more polluted than outdoor air.  A recent research has proven correlation between the COVID-19 death rate when the air is slightly more polluted (1ug/m3 in PM 2.5 increase), and airborne transmission is more likely in zones with a ventilation rate of less than 3L/s/person.

He concluded by sharing how improving ventilation limits the spread of COVID-19, and how filtration, bringing in fresh air, cleaning methods, and limiting the number of people in a space impact the air quality measures.