Indoor air pollution 50,000 die every year

Experts at a workshop here on Monday urged the government to formulate a national action plan to reduce indoor air pollution as it kills nearly 50,000 people every year in the country.
They said about 50,000 people, two-thirds of them under-5 children, die each year for using indoor solid fuel since 92 percent households in Bangladesh use crop residue, wood and dung as cooking fuel.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) jointly organized the three-day workshop, ‘Indoor Air Pollution’, at a city hotel.
Chaired by Health Secretary Md Shaikh Altaf Ali, the inaugural function was addressed, among others, by Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhul Haque, acting representative of WHO Dr Andrew Trevett, Programme Coordinator of GTZ Otto Gomm and Prof Joseph Graziano of Columbia University.
They said roughly four percent of the national burden of disease in Bangladesh is attributable to indoor smoke.
In most of the cases, they said, indoor smoke contains very small particles, carbon monoxide, many other toxic substances, causing serious health hazards. The indoor combustion of biomass in Bangladesh is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality, particularly in women and young children.
Addressing the workshop, the Health Minister said the government is working to ensure sustainable health services and would take effective measures to contain such deaths.
In his paper, ‘Indoor Combustion of Biomass and Public Health’, Prof Joseph Graziano said the strong epidemiologic evidence links indoor smoke exposure with fatal pneumonias and other acute lower respiratory infections in children under five.
In adults, particularly women, the exposure is associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), TB, asthma, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and cataracts. “Prenatal health outcomes may also be affected,” Graziano said.
He said improvements in safe energy, including improved cook-stoves and alternative energy sources, have great potential and health and economic benefits for the people of Bangladesh.
Graziano said the government, researchers and communities must work together to implement policy and culturally acceptable technical solutions with a new sense of urgency.
Admitting different limitations, Health Secretary Md Shaikh Altaf Ali said using crop residue, wood and dung as cooking fuel is a common scenario in Bangladesh.
“But,” Altaf Ali said, “For seeking another option, we must have affordable and sustainable cooking fuel for the poor people of the country.”
Dr Andrew Trevett said carefully controlled studies of improved cook-stoves indicate that their use is associated with improved health and economic benefits.
He said new investments and research are needed, as a reduction in indoor smoke emissions represents in the effort to improve the health of women and children, slow down the rate of climate change, and improve economic development.

Courtesy of The New Nation