The fact that Dhaka's air is among the most polluted in the world does not shock its citizens any more, as it is regularly reported in the media. Whenever something, however dangerous, happens repeatedly, it becomes normal to the public. But becoming normal in public perception does not make something as deadly as air pollution less harmful to public health. On the contrary, the source of the hazard, in the present case, polluted and toxic air, only gets further worse and at a stage reaches a tipping point. A recent study by a non-profit body, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), based in Helsinki, Finland, has come up with new findings about the fatal impact of polluted air on public health in Bangladesh. The findings of the study, titled, "Public Health Impacts of Fine Particle Air Pollution in Bangladesh" released at the Jatiya Press Club on Saturday (January 18), revealed that particulate matter of size PM2.5 (fine dust particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller) in the air is the main culprit that caused the fatalities. The microparticles in the air enters the lungs and bloodstream of people through inhalation of the polluted air.
The research think tank, CREA, reported that every year about 102, 456 people succumb to PM2.5-contaminated air in Bangladesh. The diseases and medical conditions caused by the PM2.5 include ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections and cancer. Those most vulnerable are the young children as annually some 5,258 of them die of lower respiratory infections due to inhalation of PM2.5 contaminated air. Bangladesh ranks 5th globally in terms of under-5 child mortality due to air pollution. According to the fifth edition of the State of Global Air Report, published in 2024, out of the 236,000 lives lost to air pollution in 2021, the number of under-five children was 19,000. As the report further informed, air pollution was the leading cause of death in Bangladesh. That means death due to air pollution was higher than those caused by the medical conditions like high blood pressure, poor diets, etc. However, it is not for the first time that similar researches and alarming findings on diseases and deaths attributable to air pollution have been reported. The World Bank, it may be recalled, reported that air pollution was behind 78,145 to 88,229 deaths in Bangladesh in 2019. Similar reports and studies related to air pollution and its impact on the health of different segments of the population such as children, pregnant women, people with various medical conditions have been published in the media from time to time. The fatalities due to air pollution are no fewer compared to those caused by communicable diseases like diarrhoea or the one that struck terror in society, the Covid-19, or the recently reported human metapnemovirus (HMPV) that is a matter of huge concern globally.
The public, too, have been expressing serious concern about these communicable diseases. There is no question that the public's anxiety about any new or old contagious disease is well placed and that they need to be sufficiently informed about if any person has been infected by such diseases, or if adequate measures have been adopted by the public health authorities to bring the infection under control. Unfortunately, the same level of concern among the public or at the government level is absent when it comes to the sickness or even fatalities from air pollution. One reason may be that the types of sickness air pollution cause cannot be immediately traced back to air pollution. In fact, there are multiple factors behind the medical conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory infections, cancer, etc. In consequence, neither doctors, nor victims (of air pollution) care to go into the historical details of how the patient developed her/his medical condition in the first place.
If they (patients and doctors) are at all aware, general attitude towards the issue is rather fatalistic. That is because people think air pollution is caused by human actions that are beyond the control of both patients and doctors. But it need not be the case. The task of changing the prevailing mindset primarily lies on the government and non-government agencies working on the problem of air pollution. They should launch a massive awareness raising campaign among the public and, especially among the medical professionals. One might recall here the kind of campaign that was in force during the pandemic years. The public at that time would eagerly respond to the publicity requesting people to wear face mask, use hand sanitisers and follow other health protocols. Given the alarming report on air pollution-related fatalities in Bangladesh by CREA, all concerned need to take it seriously and begin to act accordingly.
When it comes to tackling the problem of air pollution at the source, the issue cannot be left to the traditional enforcement agencies including those under the department of environment alone. All sections of the population including those already suffering from air pollution-related diseases and the medical professionals in particular should be at the forefront of the campaign to put pressure on the organisations doing construction works, authorities looking after road transport and traffic to heavily penalise and, where necessary, completely ban from the roads vehicles releasing dirty fumes in the atmosphere. One may recall at this point that in 2023, Bangladesh was ranked the most polluted country in the world. The annual average PM2.5 concentration in the air at 79.9 micrograms per cubic metre was more than twice the national standard at 35 micrograms/cubic metre.
But that figure was extremely high compared to accepted level of concentration according to WHO guidelines at 5.0 micrograms/cubic metre. The government and all other agencies involved must work together to bring down the PM2.5 concentrations in the air as close to WHO guideless as possible. In this connection, real-time monitoring of the pollution levels at the major construction sites, polluting industries, traffic points in the country should start forthwith. In this connection, the CREA report, further informed that by reducing PM2.5 pollution level in line with WHO's standards, Bangladesh could save 81,282 lives annually and, at the same time, significantly reduce the number of patients afflicted with asthma, preterm births and other such medical conditions. All these facts should act as the driving motive behind combating PM2.5-related pollution in the air.
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