The air pollution in Cairo is a matter of serious concern. The air quality in downtown Cairo is more than 10 to 100 folds of acceptable world standards. Air pollutants that are very high are particulate, hydrocarbons and lead. All are cancer causing agents.

What is the cost of air pollution In Cairo?
The World Health Organization reports that the Air Pollution in Downtown Cairo is 10-100 times what is considered a safe limit. Cairo is in the company of other Cities like Mexico City, Bangkok, San Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo which are among the worst Cities in the World in terms of air pollution.
The US environmental Protection Agency has published Risk data which states that above the safe limit, the risk of developing serious respiratory disease and cancer from inhaling particulate in air (dust & soot and hydrocarbons, heavy metal compounds) is: 2 persons for every 1000. In addition to that, the dispersion factor (how fast the pollutants in the air are dispersed because of the weather conditions like the wind, rain ,air, temperature) makes a difference in the severity of exposure to air pollution.
Cairo has a very poor dispersion factor because of lack of rain and its layout of tall buildings and narrow streets, which create a bowl effect. I don't claim to have accurate data on Cairo air Pollution. There isn't any. I can make a reasonable assumption, that Cairo air pollution is similar to the low range of Mexico City & San Paulo, which we have good data for. I have been to Cairo four or five times in the past two years. The air is thick, gray and there is a haze over Cairo . The sky is not blue but gray. Very similar to Mexico City and Bangkok. The weather conditions make the dispersion factor twice as bad as Los Angeles, which has good air pollution data.
Assuming Cairo has a population of 12 million, The simple risk calculation comes to the