Meeting national targets to reduce air pollution can lower disease prevalence in women: Experts

Air Pollution: Meeting national targets of cutting PM2.5 pollution by 30 per cent can help bring down prevalence of diseases such as hypertension, COPD and anaemia from the current nearly five per cent to three per cent among women of reproductive age.

Researchers and experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Climate Trends, a research-based consulting and capacity building initiative in Delhi, have developed a ‘Health Benefit Assessment Dashboard’ based on data gathered via the fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).

Launched in 2019, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is aimed at improving air quality by reducing particulate matter (PM) levels by 20-30 per cent by 2024-25, keeping 2017 as baseline.

The team modelled future scenario based on a 30 per cent reduced PM2.5 levels, “with the aim of helping policymakers and researchers with real-world health impact data as the severe air pollution months approach”.

“Achieving the 2024 NCAP target of reducing 30 per cent PM2.5 levels, can help decrease the nationwide disease prevalence to 3.09 per cent from the national average of 4.87 per cent, according to the NFHS-5 data,” the research team said.

Health benefits of clean air were analysed to be highest in densely populated, high-burden states in the country’s north and eastern regions.

Current prevalence of diabetes of 1.7 per cent among women of reproductive age — 15 to 49 years — could drop to 1.4 per cent if the PM2.5 reduction targets are met, the experts said.

Further, decline in prevalence of lower respiratory infections, low birth weight and anaemia were found to be most pronounced among children in regions having severe air pollution, particularly the Indo-Gangetic Plain and eastern states.

Speaking at a workshop where the findings were shared, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the Chairperson of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, said, “One thing that is very critical but often overlooked is the role of indoor air pollution. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has gone a long way and has been an amazing change in terms of the ownership of LPG connections.”

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“But the fact remains that many families are still using biomass for cooking and sometimes for heating in the winter months. This significantly contributes to outdoor air pollution, apart from being a direct risk to women and children,” Swaminathan added.

“So, there is a very specific gender equity issue with indoor air pollution, in addition to the fact that it contributes anywhere between 30 to 60 percent of ambient air pollution,” she added.

Aarti Khosla, the Director of Climate Trends, said, “The central concern for air quality mitigation should be public health. Over the last 10 years, as air quality became more of a scientific issue and increasingly linked with aspects like climate change, it has somewhat moved away from its social dimension as a public health concern primarily.”

“I think bringing it back to where it belongs is critical. That is why all the studies on epidemiological evidence and research conducted in India are so important for establishing clear links between air quality and public health,” Khosla said.