In the last two blog posts the concerns that are present in India due to pollution were vividly discussed. There is no doubt that this urgency is something very relevant and needs to be fixed. An indirect consequence of this is a loss of GDP. In 2013, India has lost over 8.5 percent due to air pollution, reducing this would gain billions. Let alone the deaths that can be saved, especially lung cancer rises the mortality. Early in 2019, the Indian government introduced the National Clean Air programme. The aim is to reduce pollution levels in over a 100 cities in India by 20 to 30 percent within the next 5 years. This may sound like music to your ears, in reality this can be quite difficult to achieve. The inhabitants of India seem to losing out against the large companies. Also, the problem had become less urgent due to short-term solutions such as nebulisers.
The air in cities of India may contain more than 30 times the World Health Organization limits. According to medics, in some ways, this has equal conditions to smoking the same of more than 50 cigarettes per day. In these conditions, even healthy people without any further complaints experience severe health problems, such as tightening of the throat, an involuntary constriction of the windpipe to keep the toxins out. This can be loosely described as: asthma-like symptoms, but is not the least of India’s problem as we discuss air pollution. Researchers say it can also increase the chance of developing cancer.
Higher air pollution can be a main contributor to a higher risk of lung cancer, if we look at cancer only. According to research amongst 150 lung cancer patients from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (RGRH) locates in New Delhi, 50 percent had never smoked, but had developed the pulmonary disease. In 2018, lung cancer was responsible for 5 deaths per 1000 inhabitant in India, and a large group of scientists suspect that a large contributor to this cause is air pollution. In recent years, patients have become younger, tend to smoke less, and are more likely to be females.
A study published in 2019, stated that 1.8 percent of the total air pollution DALYS of the year 2017 attributed to lung cancer. Moreover, the proportion of lower respiratory infection was much higher than that of tobacco use, indicating an increased burden. Many studies acclaim to have found a direct association of air pollution and lung cancer. However, a lot of these studies are situated in areas which are much more developed. However, relatively short-term researches in India have roughly indicated the same outcomes. Concluded, there is not enough long-term evidence on the impact of air pollution when it comes to lung diseases, but looking at available evidence, the relative risks for unfavorable health outcomes to respiratory diseases is an enormous burden for India.
Sources:
South East Asia 
Interesting post about air pollution and lung cancer, I was especially surprised that it is not definitely proven that pollution in India is a lung cancer cause. It would be interesting to know why the studies in more developed countries can’t be applied to India.
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Dear Amber, Jasmijn and Max,
Very interesting topic for your blog. This is a very accurate problem since with the latest innovation, the air pollution is increasing more and more. With the numbers given in your first post, it is very clear that India is the most polluted country of the world, so that declares why you have chosen this country.
I was wondering who want to address with your group, so who is your target group? And what is your main goal? Do you just want to create more awareness about the problem, or also give them instructions how to reduce the air pollution as prevention as well the communicable as the non-communicable diseases you described?
Kindly regards,
Tharsini
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Dear group,
I enjoyed reading your blog. I like the way this blog was written because of your critical view on current policies in India. It is clear that India is facing a big air pollution problem. I did not know that the air quality in some cities was as bad as smoking 50 cigarettes per day! That is an enormous amount..
I am looking forward to reading your next blog posts. Hope they will also contain some of your recommendations, since India seems not to be tackling the problems well by its focus on short term resolutions and the current policies being are too hard to achieve.
Regards,
Lisa
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Hi!
I really like the way your write, it is clear and simple but not infantilising.
Very interesting that pollution leads to GDP loss! I think it would be good to maybe elaborate a bit more on how/why this is and maybe also discuss other contextual consequences/indicators etc. to show more of the full burden pollution creates.
I really like how you explain the effect on the lungs and the way you use data (e.g. comparing the damage done to cigarettes smoked per day), this is very clear and helps for the visualisation. I do think however that you could maybe elaborate a bit more on this, use graphs/visuals and expand on the studies done in developed countries.
Best wishes,
Simone
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Hi all,
Very nice blog and interesting topic, I enjoyed reading it!
I have a few small tips. In the first paragraph you use the word BBP. I think it is useful if you briefly state what this stands for. Not everyone knows what this means, the general reader for example. Also, the same with the term DALYs.
You also indicate that it appears that more and more women smoke. Why is this? And what about the men? Since you mention the group of women here, it might be an idea to make a recommendation specifically for this group in your last blog.
I wish you good luck with writing your next blog posts!
Greetings,
Kubra Bingol
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