It is alarming to know that air pollution has become a serious cause of concern. Bangladesh has been grappling with a severe air quality crisis.
According to global studies, it has become the leading cause of death, outpacing fatalities from high blood pressure, poor diet, and tobacco use.
It appears that the failure to take effective air quality enhancement programmes has led air pollution to deteriorate.
While air pollution usually worsens in the winter, the situation has become threatening this winter.
Since the onset of the winter, hospitals have reported a surge in patients with diseases that are either attributable to or complicated by air pollution.
The situation has forced the government to urge people not to go outside without masks.
Meanwhile, the environment, forest and climate change ministry also advised individuals with sensitive health conditions and the elderly and children to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
Air pollution has taken a severe turn in most cities, especially Dhaka and adjacent areas, with air quality scores hovering around 200, which is regarded as very unhealthy and hazardous.
The Air Quality Index has, in fact, placed Dhaka as one of the most polluted cities of the world for a long time.
Reports by the Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies show that Dhaka’s air quality continues to worsen every year.
Reportedly different studies have also painted a grim picture of air pollution and its impact on public health.
About 200,000 premature deaths are attributed to air pollution every year while air pollution shortens the life expectancy of an average Bangladeshi by 4.8 years.
Several research studies have also identified the major sources of air pollution that include construction sites, brick kilns, traffic, burning of solid waste, transboundary pollution and industrial pollution.
However, the concerned authorities have largely failed to contain air pollution and comply with the High Court orders issued to control air pollution.
The court directed the government to shut down brick kilns in and around the capital, ban black smoke-emitting and unfit vehicles, sprinkle water on roads, destroy vehicles that have served their shelf life and define their valid life spans, among other things.
Four South Asian countries — Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan — agreed on the need to reduce national annual average PM2.5 levels to 35 micrograms per cubic metre by 2030, but none has so far taken any pragmatic measures.
Since air pollution is a threat to not only public health but also productivity and economy, the government’s of neighbouring countries should collaborate with each other to fight air pollution as it affects us all so adversely.
