5 minute read
Safety in Schools
from You-wA-H
by schoolindia
Webinar 14
Webinar on Air Pollution & Covid19 : Effects on School Children
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The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has laid the groundwork for a serious discussion on the way we live and on the ways we want to live. Exposing children to environmental pollutants during important times of physiological development can lead to long-lasting health problems, dysfunction, and disease.
SDG target 3.9, which calls for a substantial reduction in deaths and illnesses from air pollution. SDG target 7.1. 2, which aims to ensure access to clean energy in homes. SDG target 11.7, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of cities by improving air quality.
In the 14th episode of our Adolescent health webinar series, we explored how communitybased air quality monitoring can help improve our understanding of air pollution and identify actions to reduce exposure to unhealthy air.
Esteemed Panelists:
MR. ABHISHEK SAXENA Policy Specialist NITI AAYOG, Govt. of India
MR. RAJIV KHURANA CMC, FIMC, Co-Founder Trustee at Lung Care Foundation DR. AJAY SINGH NAGPURE Head, Air Quality & Sustainable Urbanization, World Resources Institute
DR. SAURABH KHANNA Consultant, Neonatology, Paediatrics, CK Birla Hospital, Gurgaon MS. VIBHA KHOSLA Principal, Shri Ram Global School, New Delhi
KEY TAKEAWAYS
STATISTICS SHARED DURING THE WEBINAR • In India 57000 children die prematurely due to air pollution. • More than 90% of the children worldwide breathe toxic air every day and one out of four children die under the five years of age, the pollutants affect the lung growth causing asthma and bronchitis. • The air quality is so poor that each one of us is smoking a minimum of 15 cigarettes a day. • We breathe this toxic air 25,000 times a day which is equal into 10,000L. • 14 out of 20 most polluted cities are Indian cities. • Nearly 10 to 11 lakh premature deaths happen in India due to air-pollution. • 2 to 3 percent of the GDP has also been lost hampering human capital, social capital and economic capital. • The biggest factors for air-pollution are vehicles, then comes biomass burning and coal and energy generation. • In countries like Amsterdam, 60% of the population roams around on bicycles. • The farmers burn the stubble because the harvester of the crop leaves about 30 cm of the crop in the field, removing this manually is costlier than burning. The government has given incentive to use a new harvesting process that leaves only a few centimetres of the stubble that does not need to be harvested from the ground. However the combined harvesting process proposed by the government is not actively used by farmers because it is not as cost friendly for all farmers.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
In Saket, New Delhi a vendor started selling oxygen at Rs. 299 for 15 minutes.
AIR POLLUTION IN HOUSEHOLDS • Households use bio-mass produced and unhealthy cooking oils, these oils disturb the
PM value of the air. • Air pollution is one of the leading causes of mortality and comorbidity worldwide.
EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON OUR PHYSICAL HEALTH • Air-pollution also leads to cancers and affects our genetic influences - epigenetics - that affects all the future generations. • Vascular headaches and migraines are more common in highly polluted cities, irritability is a general behaviour.
EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT • Prenatal exposure to air pollution can lead to developmental delay, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder leading to school absenteeism resulting in poor educational growth. • Pollution has high impact on cognitive development and mental behavior, especially on pregnant women.
AIR POLLUTION AND COVID19 • Air pollution ranges from 30 to 200 in the outdoor environment and the indoor environment it ranges from 100 to 800 micro particles. • There is a general assumption that the air quality has improved during the lock down but this is only true for households with proper infrastructure and cooking oils and low indoor air pollution. • Air pollution helped the spread of Coronavirus. A research based in Italy showed that one unit increase in PM 2.5 point centration is associated with 9% increase in COVID-19 related mortality. • Air pollution is a bigger issue, even worse than COVID because COVID might get weak but air-pollution keeps increasing. • India has a relatively low mortality rate from COVID because we have gotten used to living in unhealthy environmental conditions. • We have been wearing masks for the last 6 to 8 months now, Coronavirus has led to a behavioural change. It is the simplest way to tackle the problems that arise because of
KEY TAKEAWAYS
air-pollution.
POLICIES AND INITIATIVES • Air pollution as an issue requires sustained effort and coordination. • Air pollution is a silent killer, we are waiting for authorities to take action but it is us who needs to step forward and take action against air-pollution. • Government argues that issues like stubble burning can be fought against at the local level, but the force has to come from young people. • Governments can’t impose a heavy law or a knee-jerk action against air-pollution for example they can’t ask the citizens of the country to completely stop using vehicles.
The idea here is to make sustained effort. • The government has set up a mechanism where the polluting industries pay cess for the toxic fumes they emit. The funds generated through this cess are used to clean our surroundings. • There are other incentives that the government offers to set up solar plants, the cost of electricity from solar units is way less than that of the electricity produced by using thermal units. • The government has also rolled out 10,000 cr. to electric vehicles in the name of subsidy which is a direct benefit transfer subsidy.
SURVEY FINDINGS
Almost 50% of the audience was not aware of the recent formation of Commission to clean air by the Indian Government. Over 81% population believes that air pollution affects a child’s mental health. 67% of the survey participants feel that enough collective action to control the rise of air pollution is not being taken. More than 60% people believe that Compulsory Checks on Vehicles and Car Pooling, School Health Curriculum and Capacity Building by NGOs can be the possible solution in schools to empower children on air pollution. 67% of the audience feels that COVID19 and air pollution are related.
