270,000 children in Dhaka suffer from eye fatigue, severe headache each yr

An estimated 270,000 children in Dhaka suffer from eye fatigue and severe headache every year due to visual pollution - a major cause of vision and mental- health problems, said a new study.
Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO) conducted the study, titled 'Visual Pollution in The City of Dhaka: A Public Health, Environmental and Traffic Distraction', disclosed at an event in the city on Sunday.
The baseline survey was conducted among 1,380 people of Dhaka in 2022.
ESDO's study found that visual pollution causes more than 24 per cent of people to suffer from eye fatigue of which children are the worst sufferers.
Each year, approximately 270,000 children in Dhaka city receive treatment for suffering from eye strain and severe headache, based on data obtained from 27 hospitals and clinics in the city of Dhaka.
Furthermore, the residents of the city who are suffering from mental illness have reached nearly 17 per cent, according to the study.
The research showed that the death rate due to road accidents in Bangladesh increased 40 per cent - 8,800 people in mid-2022 as opposed to 5,227 people in 2019.
Visual pollution has been identified as one of the top causes of road accidents, ranking alongside overtaking, reckless driving, and intoxicated driving.
The worrying thing is that 95.89 per cent of people aren't even aware that visual pollution has been affecting their lives seriously for a very long time, read the study.
Billboards, cables, wires, decaying structures, stacked-high construction materials, graffiti, etc. are just a few examples of the various irregular forms that are referred to as 'visual pollution' and prevent people from fully appreciating a perspective or view.
The number of billboards in the city stood at 13,997 as of June, 2022. The figure was 9,270 in 2019 and 4,520 in 2015.
Visual pollution describes the apparent deterioration and low aesthetic quality of natural and man-made landscapes close to people.
Visual pollution disturbs both natural and man-made habitats and interferes with a place's ability to be useful and enjoyable while also limiting the ability of the wider ecological system, which includes both humans and animals, to grow and flourish there, researchers who were involved in the study shared at the event.
During the media briefing, former secretary and ESDO President Syed Marghub Murshed said the issue of visual pollution must be tackled.
He called on the government to act, in order to protect public health and the environment from visual pollution.
Presenting the findings of the report, ESDO Secretary General and Study Team Leader Shahriar Hossain said children, who have been exposed to visual pollution since childhood, are often devoid of subtle aesthetics.
These children become accustomed to their unpleasant surroundings, losing their natural impulse to rectify them, added Mr Hossain.
Maliha Hoque, senior programme associate of ESDO, presented the study report.

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