शुक्रवार, 31 अक्तूबर 2008

Pollution is Ruining Healths of Delhi Kids

When it comes to delhi's notoriously high pollution levels, there is no place safe for your children who brave serious physical and mental health hazards each day.

A study of the city's pollution has now established that you can't protect your children enough if you are in the Capital.Sooner or later, they will fall victim to sleep disorder, respiratory problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)or even potentially life-threatening ailments like high blood pressure.

Pollution, in fact, is a great leveller.The central Pollution Control Board(CPCB), which conducted the recently-released study linking pollution and child health with the help of the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata, found that children faced physical and even mental health hazards like ADHD every time they took in a lungful of the city's unclean air.

This horrible truth applied equally to children living in exclusive and lower middle class areas of the city.

Delhi's schoolchildren had 43.5 percent reduced lung function because of the polluted environment. By comparison, children in rural areas of West Bengal and Uttarakhand- with whom they were compared- were somewhat better off with 25.7 percent reduced lung function.

"Delhi's schoolchildrenhave three times more incidence of high blood pressure. Hypertension (or High blood pressure) was more prevalent among girls than boys. The prevelance of hypertension increased progressively with age, the highest being in the age group of 15-17,'' said the 'Study on ambient air quality, respiratory symptoms and lung function of children in Delhi.


The CPCB study is based on a survey conducted between 2002 and 2005. Children aged between four and 17 years were surveyed and at least 11,628 Delhi children were assessed for different issues in summer, winter and monsoon.

"This is a onetime study which requires further verification and investigation. It is a bit dated, but it is felt that the facts in this report are relevant," said CPCB chairman Jayant Mauskar.

It appears that the children face the burnt of the crimes that the adult commit. Vehicular pollution,burning of garbage and leaves, use of kerosene and coal wreck havoc in the lives of Delhi's kids.

Add to the industrial pollution, premonsoon dust storms and the Capital's semi-arid weather conditions.Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter were found to be the main culprits. No child has escaped their ravages. However, their rural counterparts from Kotdwar and Pauri-Garhwal in Uttarakhand, and Cooch-Behar, Midnapore, Dinajpur, Malda and 24 Parganas in West Bengal were found to be healthier.

ITS EFFECTS

The results has been highlighted in the CPCB report. At least 2.2 percent of Delhi children suffer from sleep disorder compared to 0.7 percent of Delhi rural children, Delhi's children had 1.8 times more upper respiratory problems like sinusitis, running or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat and common cold with fever. They also showed two times higher lower respiratory problems like frequent dry cough, sputum-producing cough, wheezing breath, breathlessness on extersion, chest pain and disturb sleep due to breething problems suggesting higher prevalence of underlying respiratory diseases. Urban boys had higher asthama compared to girls.

Ailments among children in the city varied according to the air quality. For instance, complaints of stuffy nose came from children between 6 years and 11 years in west, east and central Delhi. Those in east and west Delhi reported the highest number of cases of cold and fever compared to the rest of the city.

At least 4.6 percent of children had asthama compared to 2.5 percent of their counterparts. About 15 percent of Delhi's children has frequent eye irritation compared with only 4 percent in rural areas. Also, Delhi's children had significantly higher prevalence of frequent headache (27.4) compared to 11.8 percent in the rural areas of West Bengal and Uttarakhand; nausea(11.2 per cent) compared to 5.6 percent in rural areas and fatigue (12.9 percent) which was well above 6.7 percent of such cases reported from rural areas.

The study showed that these symptoms became more prominent in winter when the particulate matter level in the air is highest, and lowest during the monsoon when it is lowest. This suggested a positive association with particulate air pollution and the health of children.

Mental health problems related to pollution also appeared to be alarming. According to the study, children braving urban pollution in the Capital are becoming victims of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). It makes them them impulsive and restless and they display short attention spans. The CPCB study said because of pollution, the incidence of ADHD among Delhi's children was two to five times more than those in rural areas. It was the highest amongst Delhi boys.

COURTESY- MAIL TODAY.

कोई टिप्पणी नहीं: