Tag: AIR

Categories
Health Lite Blogs

Clean Air, Healthy Lives

Living in a polluted place is like an open invitation to health issues. You might find yourself dealing with everyday problems like runny noses, itchy eyes, and a hard time breathing…writes Dr. Ambarish Joshi

Have you ever thought that air pollution is something that’s not affecting you directly? Then you need to take a look at what the WHO report says. It says that nearly 99% of the world’s population is exposed to air that is polluted beyond the recommended guidelines. This problem is even more critical in middle-income countries like India, where people face the highest levels of exposure.

From the usual suspects like sneezing and red eyes to more serious stuff like high blood pressure, fertility problems, and scary diseases like lung cancer, strokes, and heart attacks – this omnipresent pollution is causing more trouble than we realize. And guess what? Delhi recently earned itself a title Delhites are not so proud of– it’s now the world’s second most polluted city, according to Forbes. It means that if there’s air, there’s air pollution around us. And we’ve no other choice but to breathe it.

The puzzle of pollution

So, how does this pollution thing work? Well, it happens when chemicals get released into the air, either naturally or because of stuff humans do. These chemicals can be primary, going straight into the air, or secondary, forming when the primary ones mix with other stuff already in the atmosphere or with other pollutants. There’s a long list of these pollutants, and they’re everywhere – indoors and outdoors. Each of them brings its own set of problems.

Silent killer

Living in a polluted place is like an open invitation to health issues. You might find yourself dealing with everyday problems like runny noses, itchy eyes, and a hard time breathing. But it doesn’t stop there – pollution can mess with your health in big ways too. It’s behind things like chronic headaches, trouble getting pregnant, and even life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and nasty flare-ups of asthma or COPD.

A case study

Let’s understand the severity of air pollution with a real example– a case study from Delhi-based Primus Hospital. In January 2023, a 25-year-old woman, a non-smoker, was having a tough time with a runny nose, sore throat, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and wheezing. She presented these signs at Primus Hospital OPD.

What came to light is that she’s had asthma since she was 17, with a family history. She had been using inhalers on and off and even had a few doctor visits for her asthma over the past 5 years. On top of that, she was suffering from allergic rhino sinusitis, but she was following the advice of an ear, nose, and throat specialist. But here’s the twist – she’s not feeling better. In fact, her health was getting worse. By April, she came back with the same issues. She had been following everything the doctor said and using her inhaler correctly. So, what’s the deal? Well, it turns out she moved from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi for work in November 2022. She was a salesperson, spending long hours outside every day, and it’s pretty clear that Delhi’s polluted air caused her health to nosedive.

This case drives home the point that air pollution can mess with your health, big time, even if you were healthy before. In case you are already suffering from an ailment like asthma-like in the case presented– then polluted air can take a heavy toll on your overall health.

Take preventive measures

As we all know prevention is always better than cure. Therefore, to protect yourself, stay indoors during heavy pollution, keep doors and windows shut, avoid outdoor workouts, wear masks, and follow local air quality advice religiously. Also, don’t forget to listen to your doctor, take prescribed meds, and have regular check-ups.

Need of the hour- A collective effort

The need of the hour is a collective effort because it’s not just the government’s job to clean up the air. Paying little attention to our daily actions that are causing pollution and making course correction efforts like carpooling, using public transport, and avoiding burning stuff outdoors can help us all build a society where we can not only live but breathe clean air.

The health effects of air pollution are serious – one-third of deaths from stroke, lung cancer, and heart disease are due to air pollution. Air pollution is an immediate and perhaps one of the biggest health concerns today, inflicting harm on our present and upcoming generations. It’s time we all stand together and make our air breathable again by actions that are in our control.

ALSO READ-Health agency asks to prepare for a fresh wave of Covid

Categories
-Top News Arab News

IDF completing preparations for ‘attack from air, sea, land’

Hanegbi says that in a recent cabinet meeting, the government approved a plan to “destroy” Hamas, as stated by the prime minister and defense minister…reports Asian Lite News

As the Israel-Palestine conflict enters its eighth day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is completing preparations for a “significant ground operation” in the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reported.

The IDF statement says it is readying to “expand the offensive” by implementing a “wide range of offensive operational plans” which it says include a “joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land.”

The IDF said it is finalizing the draft of hundreds of thousands of reservists, as the logistics directorate is working to provide troops with all the equipment they will need for the ground offensive.

It said: “In recent days, the tools required for combat have been transferred to the assembly areas, and at this stage, the various units of the Technological and Logistics Directorate are working to complete the qualification of the tools and equipping them with advanced combat means, as needed.”

“IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed all over the country and are prepared to increase readiness for the next stages of the war, with an emphasis on a significant ground operation,” the military added, according to The Times of Israel.

The military is expected to launch a ground invasion in the Gaza Strip, but its extent and when it is carried out may be affected by operational considerations, as tensions grow on the northern border.

Meanwhile, Israel’s National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi has reaffirmed that the cabinet’s war goal is to remove Hamas from military and political control over the Gaza Strip.

Hanegbi, however, declined to elaborate on planned next steps for the coastal enclave.

When asked about Israeli plans for alternative control, or return to occupation, of the Gaza Strip, Hanegbi told The Times of Israel, “We can’t report through you to the enemy on what is coming, we can tell Hamas that it is prohibited for it to be sovereign in Gaza.”

Hanegbi says that in a recent cabinet meeting, the government approved a plan to “destroy” Hamas, as stated by the prime minister and defense minister.

“Hamas will not be the ruler, the sovereign in Gaza after the combat,” he says, as per The Times of Israel. Earlier on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready with its fighters in the Gaza Strip at the front line.

“With our fighters in the Gaza Strip, on the front line. We are all ready,” Netanyahu wrote on ‘X’ on Saturday. Netanyahu toured Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Azza, two of the worst-hit Gaza border communities in last week’s Hamas onslaught, his office announced, The Times of Israel reported.

As per a statement, Netanyahu “walked between the ruins of the houses where these terrible massacres took place.” The prime minister was briefed by the IDF officers there, including the head of the paratrooper battalion.

The visit comes as Netanyahu’s first visit to the scene, more than a week after the attack that saw more than 1,300 Israelis killed, most of them civilians, as waves of Hamas terrorists breached the border. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has said that upon receiving the report of wounded following the infiltration of terrorists in Zikim, the soldiers of Unit 669 were rushed to the field.

“The forces worked to rescue the wounded under fire and mortar fire. Since the beginning of the fighting, Unit 669 rescued about 200 wounded in about 45 rescues,” the IAF wrote on ‘X’.

In the wake of Israel Hamas war in the Gaza Strip which claimed the loss of thousands of lives on both sides including civilians, an agreement has been reached under which Israel will allow foreigners to leave the war-torn Gaza, Times of Israel reported on Saturday.

Egypt, Israel and the United States have agreed to allow foreigners residing in Gaza to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, under which Israel agreed to refrain from striking areas the foreigners would pass through on their way out of the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli publication added that Qatar was involved in the negotiations and the participants received approval from the Palestinian terror groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

ALSO READ-OIC calls for urgent, extraordinary meet on Israel-Gaza

Categories
-Top News London News UK News

Toxic air chalks London

Over 1,700 asthma hospitalisations in London due to toxic air. New analysis shows that the capital’s poor air quality led to over 1,700 hospital admissions for asthma and serious lung conditions between 2017-2019

Poor air quality stunts the growth of children’s lungs, creates new respiratory conditions and worsens existing chronic illnesses, such as asthma, lung and heart disease. It is high time for the Londoners to stem the rot.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said that further bold action is urgently needed to tackle London’s filthy air, as new analysis by researchers from Imperial College London shows air pollution contributed to over 1,700 hospital admissions for asthma and COPD between 2017 and 2019.  The Mayor called the new analysis ‘a stark reminder’ that the health of Londoners is being damaged by air pollution.

The new evidence shows: The rapid improvement in air pollution levels reduced the number of hospital admissions for asthma and serious lung conditions by 30 per cent – from 2,450 (2014 – 2016) to 1,700 (2017 – 2019); the largest percentage improvement was among children under the age of 14 – between 2014 and 2016, around 1,000 of those admitted to hospital with airway diseases were children under 14 with asthma. Between 2016 and 2019, these air pollution attributable admissions were reduced to 700, a 30 per cent reduction. For some diseases, improving air quality has a direct and immediate benefit for public health.

 The analysis adds to the growing body of evidence that bold action is required to reduce air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in the capital.

Earlier this month, the Mayor convened leaders from national and local government, health experts and campaigners, including Professor Chris Whitty, Defra Minister Jo Churchill MP and Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, at London’s Clean Air and Health Summit to agree the next steps needed to tackle air pollution  Rosamund’s nine year-old daughter, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, died in 2013 following an asthma attack, became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Following the inquest, the Coroner set out areas of concern which were discussed at the summit, where actions were agreed.

The Mayor has already taken ground-breaking action to tackle toxic air, carbon emissions and congestion in the capital by introducing and then expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone and tightening the Low Emission Zone standards. These interventions are expected to lead to a five per cent fall in CO2 emissions from cars and vans in the zone, a 30 per cent cut in toxic nitrogen oxide emissions and a 35 per cent cut in toxic fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exhaust fumes.

Even so, there is still much more work to do before London meets legal and safe pollution limits and all Londoners can breathe clean air. Sixteen per cent of major roads in London still exceed the legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and of an estimated 322 care homes in the city in 2019, 87 per cent are in areas exceeding the WHO interim PM2.5 guideline. All 322 care homes were in areas exceeding the stricter WHO guideline limit for the protection of human health, for both NO2 and PM2.5.

City Hall recently published data showing that emissions of toxic air from road transport in outer London are not reducing at the same rapid speed as in central and inner London, underlining the need for further action.

Social Justice

The Mayor believes tackling air pollution is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city worst affected by air pollution, but are least likely to own a car and to contribute to the problem. Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences of polluting vehicles.   

 “London’s toxic air is damaging people’s health, which is leading to many hospitalisations. This new analysis is another stark reminder that air pollution is damaging the health of Londoners right across our city, and that we must do everything possible to protect children, the elderly and those with respiratory conditions from our filthy air,” said the Mayor.

 “We have already made great progress in London in cutting air pollution and carbon emissions, but there’s clearly a long way to go and we can’t put off further action to protect the health of Londoners.”

Dr Heather Walton, from Imperial’s Environmental Research Group, and senior author of the report, said: “Air pollution continues to contribute to many hospital admissions for asthma and COPD in London but it is good to see that these hospital admissions have decreased from 2016 to 2019 as a result of air pollution reductions in London.  More policies to reduce air pollution in London should reduce these numbers further and reduce other health impacts of air pollution as well.”

 “As a GP working and living in Tooting, I’ve seen first hand the impact that poor air quality has on some of the most vulnerable people in the community,” said Dr Tom Coffey OBE, Mayoral Health Advisor. “This analysis shows that the Mayor’s actions on air pollution are edging us ever closer to a safer and greener city, and we cannot waste a single opportunity to ensure we get there. We know there’s still work to be done, so I welcome further bold actions from the Mayor to help our city reach its 2030 targets to clean up London’s air and protect Londoners health.”

Ruth Fitzharris, mum and campaigner with Mums for Lungs, said: “London’s children deserve better. My son like thousands of children in London is significantly affected by air pollution. He’s been admitted to hospital repeatedly with severe wheezing. These episodes are so frightening: no child or adult should suffer as a result of breathing dirty air. We urge policymakers to come together, to build on the improvements to air quality that have been made in London so far, and ensure that air pollution becomes a thing of the past.”

ALSO READ-Delhi homes record poor indoor air quality