India accounts for 22 of the world’s 30 cities with the worst air pollution, 7 of them are in the top 10 which makes India the most polluted country in the world. According to a new study, globally air pollution will cause around 7 million premature deaths in 2020. Greenpeace Southeast Asia concluded that next to the 7 million lives lost, air pollution will globally cost an estimated 225 billion dollars in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs.
The problem of air pollution is mostly found in Southeast Asia, with Air Pollution being ranked in 2012 as the leading contributor to the burden of disease in Southeast Asia. Air pollution is split into two groups: Ambient Air Pollution (AAP) and Household Air Pollution (HAP) which is mainly caused by solid cooking fuels and tobacco smoke. Ambient Air Pollution is categorised in two categories: natural phenomena and human activities. HAP is estimated to account to 1,04 million premature deaths and nearly 31,4 million DALYs globally. Where Ambient Air Pollution (PM<2.5), surprisingly, accounts to about 627.000 premature deaths and nearly 17,8 million DALYs globally. The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death.
Particulate matter (PM) is associated with the most severe air pollution induced health effects. PM may contain, just like other components of air pollution, toxic substances and transport them into the respiratory tract. The effects of PM on the body depends on PM size, the lower the aerodynamic diameter, the further the particles may penetrate the body. The adverse health effects of the exposure to particulate matter including PM2.5 and PM10 are a great concern to governments and health organizations worldwide. The pulmonary effects of air pollution containing PM2.5 and PM10 include increased respiratory symptoms, decreased lung function, and increased incidence of chronic cough, bronchitis and conjunctivitis. Every single city included in the report in the Middle East and Africa exceeded WHO guidelines for PM2.5, as did 99% of cities in South Asia, 95% in Southeast Asia, and 89% in East Asia.
Gurugram, a suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, is the world’s most polluted city, according to Greenpeace and AirVisual, which found it had an average air quality index of 135.8 in 2018 — almost three times the level which the US Environmental Protection Agency regards as healthy. The newly revised Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for annual average PM10 is set at 60 µg/m3 and for PM2.5 is 40 µg/m3. In two months of last year, the AQI in Gurugram — as measured by levels of fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 — was above 200. The EPA regards this as “very unhealthy” and warns that “everyone may experience more serious health effects” if exposed. And this year it was even worse.
On November 4th, the Air Quality Index (AQI) remained above 800 in certain parts of New Delhi. A public health emergency has been declared in New Delhi, where authorities have halted work at construction sites and instituted new traffic controls limiting the number of cars on the road. Schools have been closed and most residents who can afford to are staying home, though working class Delhiites are left with little choice but to venture outside.
Measures taken in the capital itself are unlikely to have a major effect on the smog however, as much of it is being generated by crop burning in areas around New Delhi, where farmers light fires to get rid of leftover crops and “stubble.” More information about crop burning can be found here!
Even when cities meet air quality guidelines — which New Delhi manifestly does not — pollution can still pose a hazard to public health, a study found in August. Long-term exposure to polluted air has been compared to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, and children who grow up in a smoggy environment can face serious developmental and other health problems.
Sources:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/04/health/most-polluted-cities-india-china-intl/index.html
https://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/FINAL_HAP_AAP_BoD_24March2014.pdfhttp://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/112199/E79097.pdf
South East Asia 
First of all, I think the lay-out is very clear. With regard to the posts I have two questions. Firstly, in the post ‘who are we?’ you mention that the blog discusses the different aspects of the consequences of pollution, bad sanitation and hygiene on infectious and chronic diseases. I read something about cancer, but for me it is not clear which infectious disease is meant in the double burden of disease. My second point is about the audience. In the post ‘New Delhi: The Most Polluted City in The World’ you use a lot of medical terms like for example DALY and NAAQS. I don’t know exactly what you audience is, but make sure that what your writing is understandable for your audience.
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Hi Anouk,
Thanks for your feedback. In the blog about Tuberculosis we try to explain our double burden. However, we are still writing a blog exclusively about our double burden. Also, we are going to simplify this blog and explain the medical terms mentioned in this blog.
Kind regards,
Max Bakker
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Hi!
First of all, you’re blog is very pretty and looks very professional!!
I really like how you start with some numbers of the global ranking, this really shows the severity of the problem. I knew the situation in many Indian cities was bad, but I was shocked by how bad.. Maybe you could emphasise this on the homepage of your blog, to get people’s attention.
In the second paragraph you speak op DALY’s, without explaining what is meant by that. I am not completely sure who is in your target group, but – as a non-medical student – I had not heard about this before starting this course. I think you will strengthen your argument by shortly explaining what this means.
Also it is really good that you give some examples of measures/guidelines taken, and how these will probably not have much effect. To make it easier for your reader, it might be nice to use subheadings in the text and use something like a concluding sentence, cause for me the end came rather abruptly now.
I really enjoyed reading your blog!
Simone
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Hi! I first want to mention that the topic you have chosen is very interesting and I have learned a lot from reading what you have posted so far. I knew little about how big India’s problems are and how bad the cities are doing compared to the rest of the world. It is mentioned that previous interventions did not have the desired effect. I was wondering if you have found information on other interventions that India could implement in order to tackle the problems air pollution is causing. I hope there are, since the situation seems to only worsen.
Kind regards,
Marieke de Sévaux
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Really nicely written article, Max. I had not been aware of how much is contributed by burning of stubble. I suppose this is one of those areas where the solution (not burning stubble) could have an unwanted effect (less soil fertility as the ash from burning stubble is good for the soil – although composting could get the same effect.
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Hi Mitzi,
Stubble burning is mostly the result of bad quality and an excess of crops. In a further blog we have extensively described the problem of crop burning to answer more questions on this topic. Burning stubble is mentioned in a few research articles as a negative for soil fertility, I will look into this!
Kind regards,
Max Bakker
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