NEW DELHI: A new report titled “Rapid rise in premature mortality due to anthropogenic air pollution in fast growing tropical cities from 2005 to 2018” was released in Science Advances on April 8, revealing rapid degeneration in air quality and increasing urban exposure to air pollutants hazardous to health. The report prepared by an international team of scientists aimed to address data gaps in air quality in 46 future megacities of Africa, Asia and Middle East. The researchers used space-based observations from instruments onboard NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) satellites for 2005 to 2018.
The authors found significant annual increase in pollutants across all the cities. Increase in nitrogen dioxide was noted at 14%, 8% for fine particles (PM2.5), 12% for ammonia, and up to 11% for reactive volatile organic compounds. The report attributed this rapid degeneration in air quality to emerging industries and residential sources like road traffic, waste burning, and widespread use of charcoal and fuelwood.
The study established that the increase in the number of people dying prematurely due to exposure to air pollution was highest in cities in South Asia. The number was particularly high in Dhaka, Bangladesh (totalling 24,000 people), and the Indian cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Surat, Pune and Ahmedabad (totaling 100,000 people). It noted that while the number of deaths in tropical cities in Africa due to air pollution is currently lower, owing to the recent improvements in healthcare across the continent, the worst effects of air pollution on health is likely to occur in the region in coming decades.