Diseases linked to air pollution rise in BD, despite Ministrys claim of seasonal impact: Study

Death related disease with the air pollution is increasing in Bangladesh, although the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Chang has said that the air pollution is a phenomenon of only four months of the dry season in Bangladesh, study revealed.

According to the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 82,000 people in Bangladesh die each year as a result of air pollution, the majority of which are children and elderly.

 "There has been a significant increase in air pollution-related deaths in recent years. Reports indicate that in 2019, the number of deaths reached 173,500, which is an increase by 50,000 compared to 2017," a World vision study has said.

Air pollution is one of the major environmental threats in Bangladesh, for the last few years Dhaka has ranked top/second on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality, on Wednesday (December 20, 2023) Dhaka ranked second on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality with an AQI score of 297.

"Dhakas air was classified as very unhealthy, according to the AQI. Furthermore, a study conducted by the World Bank reveals that around 14 per cent of the populations in pollution-prone areas of the country are affected by mental depression," it said.

Air pollution poses both short-term and long-term health risks to children and elderly people, according to a report by World Vision Bangladesh.

 "Air pollution causes a number of health concerns, including lung cancer, damage to the bones, liver, and kidneys, heart troubles, and respiratory ailments," said Eshrat Sharmin Akand, project director of World Visions urban programme earlier.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has undertook Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) Project with a view to identify the gross air polluting sectors, to design and demonstrate cleaner technologies in brick manufacturing sectors, and to study the emissions from other major sources like vehicles, industries to curb the emissions.

They identified that faulty vehicles are the major cause of Dhaka citys air pollution, as there no major industry in the main capital but particulates matters are a great risk for public health here.

"We are also implementing regulations to address the issue of faulty vehicles and ensure that only roadworthy vehicles, which do not contribute to air pollution, are allowed on the roads, but there is huge role of the law and order agencies to implement it as we don have any power except awareness programme" World Visions climate expert said.

The CASE project has prepared a report on the basis of six years (2012-2018) trends of air quality in the urban areas of Bangladesh titled "Ambient Air Quality in Bangladesh" illustrates, interprets and discusses the trend characteristics of air quality in 8 cities of Bangladesh. The cities are Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet. In this report, short and long term trends of air quality in the cities are studied and demonstrated, and compared with the standards set by the government of Bangladesh.

Citing different study report, it said air pollution in recent time has become a grave concern all over the world especially for its association with multidirectional adverse effect on health, climate, ecosystem, culture and customs.

"The medical science has been discovering every-time newly the affiliation of air pollution with many of the serious health burdens like, (a) organic particles carcinogenic, (b) exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may alter the structure of the infant-brain, (c) exposure to fine particle increases the risk of reduced lung function and could result in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The mortality count calculated in recent studies due to the air pollution is also alarming - about 7.0 million premature deaths globally relate to air pollution, however, a report on global burden of disease (GDB) by the US-based Health Effect Institute has ranked air pollution as one of the top ten killers in the world, and sixth most dangerous killer in South Asia, World Visions expert has said."