come one of the key challenges faced by policymakers internationally [ 12 , 13 ]. For this, the promotion of green infrastructure (GI) is considered a win-win solution to air pollution. It diminishes surface concentrations without imposing restrictions on traffic and other polluting sources [ 14 – 16 ]. Air pollution has become the main threat to human health. The United Nations Environmental Program has projected that 1.1 billion people breathe in unhealthy air globally [ 17 ]. Epidemiological studies have shown that the concentrations of airborne particles in the surrounding are associated with several human health effects, especially on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems [ 18 ]. The World Health Organization [ 19 ] has estimated that urban air pollution kills about 800,000 people, and 4.6 million people lost their survival worldwide every year. Therefore, the correlation between air pollution and exposure risk has been affecting the population's economy and health during the COVID-19 pandemic through increased treatment costs and access to quality healthcare [ 5 , 20 ]. Ethiopian ministry of health reported that greater than 800,000 people have been affected by the respiratory disease in Addis Ababa four years ago due to air pollution. Agreeing with the air quality survey studied two years ago in 2019, ensuring that the air pollution level in Addis Ababa has become over the restriction ratified by the world health organization of 25  μ g/m 3 of PM 2.5 (WHO, 2011). Among 819,900 all patients who visited health institutions, 27.2% of them had been patients exposed to respiratory illness. According to WHO air quality rules and regulations, fine particulate matter pollution must not be greater than 20  μ g/m 3 . However, the number exceeded 300  μ g/m 3 in some parts of Addis Ababa (Ministry of Health, 2018). Twenty leading respiratory and cardiovascular patients have visited health institutions in Addis Ababa [ 21 ]. These incidences of respiratory infection In connection with this, greenness has been affirmed to decrease air pollution and improve quality of life [ 3 , 4 ]. It has believed that reducing exposure to air pollution through greenness could improve the health of urban residents (Li et al., 2016; [ 5 ]. However, the available evidence on the effect of greenness on urban air pollution and the protection against COVID-19 has been inadequate and flexible. Air pollution is increasing due to rapid urbanization, the manufacturing industry, and carbon emission. This has caused for depleting green natural environment and underestimated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in undeveloped nations [ 6 , 7 ]. Accordingly, in a study depicted by Tiwari [ 21 ] and Bikis and Pandey [ 8 ], acute respiratory infections were about 148,000 in 2007 and reached 207,000 in 2008 and 856,000 in 2019. Middle-aged, children, and older people are also exposed to air pollution caused by CO 2 and PM 2.5 [ 22 ], which causes premature death [ 23 ] and raise the threat to health due to long-term respiratory illness [ 24 ]. The reported associations among increased respiratory, cardiovascular mortality, and chronic exposures to particulate matter were [ 69 ] and World Bank [ 70 ] portrayed that the effect of the green space environment on air pollutants such as particulate matter PM 2.5 , PM 10 , carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O 3 ), occurrence and death of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in the environmentally highly green urban area is healthier than that of the less-green urban area. The other study reported that the strength of the association observed between PM 2.5 and mortality decreased as greenness increased [ 27 ]. Moreover, the risk of exposure to air pollution in various health results such as hospital admissions [ 71 ] and childhood dermatitis was fewer for people living in green areas [ 72 ]. This research has found that PM 2.5 concentrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia tended to be higher (range 30.6 μ g/m 3 –202.8 μ g/m 3 ), due to transportation, power in manufacturing, and charcoal for cooking. The result of health exposure to PM 2.5 has continuously varied in areas with lower air pollution versus those with greater air pollution concentration. Those people who live and work always proximity to transportation stations and the manufacturing industry were more exposed to health risks (i.e., traffic police, street vendors, employee of the manufacturing industry, and labor at freight terminals). PM 10 was released from residential cooking sources and power plants, whereas, fine PM 2.5 came from motor vehicle engines, electricity, and firewood. 4.4. Green Infrastructure to Reduce Human Exposure to Air Pollution Urbanization and growing demand for housing have transformed large areas of numerous cities into an impermeable urban environment with insufficient greenery. Greenness would treat human health, provide social safety, comfortable, and environmental benefits. Strategic distribution of green infrastructure can reduce exposure to air pollution. This situation exposed people to air pollution from vehicles during traffic congestion. This needs to prioritize greeneries and management tools to minimize vehicles' air pollution and air quality-related diseases in the urban area. Mitigating air pollution using green infrastructure in streets, green roofs, and trees in the manufacturing industry is essential for health and environmental protection. Though, empirical evidence of greenness's effectiveness in improving air quality is limited. Researchers and practitioners continue to struggle with determining how and where greenness can improve air quality. The environmentally green space areas offer the community a happy and healthy living environment [ 85 , 86 ] study showed that the same result provided some evidence of synergies between greenness and air pollution, suggesting that green space planning and air pollution control can jointly improve public health.