Nearly 25% of Dhaka residents suffer from lung disease owing to the extreme level of air pollution, a study said.
The air pollution has abnormalised the pulmonary function of one-fourth of the residents, and they have been infected with all sorts of lung diseases.
Bangladesh University (BU) Urban Lab carried out the study, titled “Impact of Air Pollution on Public Health,” in a bid to continue research on man-made problems of the capital.
The study recommended the government concentrate on taking immediate steps toward reducing air pollution in the capital. Otherwise, the percentage of those with lung troubles will rise rapidly.
All industries should also be established based on the Green-Chemistry Polity, it recommended further.
BU Urban Lab along with Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) disclosed the findings at a programme in Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the capital yesterday.
DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq addressed the event as the chief guest and child disease specialist at Dhaka Shishu Hospital Dr Md Ruhul Amin represented the study key note.
Dr Amin said various procedures – Pulmonary Function Test-PFT, a test to correlate PFT results with air pollution, a test to discover disease patterns according to age, gender, and others – have been applied in the study.
Of the 23.47% of study participants found to be lung-affected, 24.72% are women and 22.18% are men, he added. The research was carried out among various age groups from 10-year olds to 40plus-year-olds, he added.
DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq said: “We have started various projects to make the city green, clean, healthy, and livable. So every landlord, trader, shop owner and others should follow our rules and regulations in the process.”
The mayor further warned that if anybody breached the city corporation’s rules, the city corporation authority would enforce tough measures and all of that person’s utilities lines would be disconnected.
Architect Iqbal Habib presented a paper on air pollution status in Dhaka city, and BU Trustee Board Chairman Quazi Jamil Azhar highlighted the BU Urban Lab activities and research aimed at building a traffic jam-free, environmentally friendly, and pollution-free dream Dhaka city.
The two Dhaka city corporations cover more than a 360 square kilometre area, with 12.5 million out of 17 million people of Dhaka, which includes different satellite cities and housing areas of private companies.