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Indoor Pollution

60pc under-5 children live with death or disability threat: Study

UNB, Dhaka
More than 60 percent of the country's total under-five children is living with high death or disability threat because of indoor pollution, says a study.
It says 90 in 100 children on an average are affected by indoor air pollution every hour. People living in urban slums, high-rise apartments or in old and dark houses suffer the most. The indoor air pollutants infect almost 88 per cent ofjhe total population.
Citing statistics of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and EPA, the article says about 2.8 million premature deaths occur every year due to indoor air pollution. As many as 80 percent of all diseases in the world are associated with water usage or poor environmental hygiene. The household environment of the poor people, especially women and children in developing countries, carries the biggest risks to health.
A study conducted by Environment and Social Development Organisation (ESDO) mentioned that both the urban and rural areas face the greatest threat from indoor pollution, where about 11 crore people continue to rely on traditional fuels such as firewood, charcoal, and cow dung, LPG or natural gas and crude oil for cooking and heating.
Concentrations of indoor pollutants in households that bum traditional fuels are alarming. Burning stich fuels produces large amount of smoke and other air pollutants in the
confined space of a home, resulting in high exposure. Women and children are the groups most vulnerable as they spend more time indoors and are exposed to the smoke.
The study says people spend their day in different places --indoors at home and at work and outdoors on fields and crowded roads. These different places can have different levels of air pollution. How much pollution a person breathes depends very much on whether he or she is rich or poor, man or woman and infan t or elderly.
The study indicates that particulate matters concentrate in kitchens due to the burning of bio-fuels which are known to be as higher as 30-55 times as per the WHO standard, while concentrations at the workplace for primary workers can be as high as 15-25 times the standard. Though outdoor concentrations are about 2.5-3.5 times in urban and rural Bangladesh as per the WHO standard, it is 10-15 times the standard in the country's slums.
Air pollution causes a range of health impacts from increasing the risk of death to increased asthma attacks, causing losses of income and greater medical expenses.
The study estimates that the deaths and asthma attack due to various forms of indoor pollution are three times higher nationwide than outdoor pollution. Though most research efforts and media attention have focused on outdoor air pollution, the indoor air situation which is most important for human life, has been ignored.
The study found that about 80-
100 per cent of women and children are exposed daily to indoor pollution. The ESDO study targeted infants living in slums at Dhaka and also studied their health status.
The study conducted by Dr Hossain Shahriar says the World Bank in 1992 designated indoor air pollution in the developing countries as one of the four most critical global environmental problems. Daily averages of pollutant level emitted indoors often exceed the current WHO guidelines and acceptable levels.
He says although several hundred separate chemical agents have been identified in the smoke from bio-fuels, the four most serious pollutants are particulate, carbon monoxide, polycyclic organic matter, and formaldehyde.
According to the study of the ESDO and EPA of the USA, in urban areas, exposure to indoor air pollution has increased due to a variety of reasons, including the construction of more tightly sealed buildings, reduced ventilation, the use of synthetic materials for building and furnishing and the use of chemical products, pesticides, and householdcareproducts.
Indoor air pollution can begin within the building or be drawn in from outdoors. Other than nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead, there are a number of other pollutants that affect the air quality in an enclosed space.
"Unfortunately, little has been done to monitor the poor indoor environment both in rural and urban areas," the study says.