Aamer calls for assessment of air quality in Islamabad

Islamabad : Federal Minister for National Health Services Aamer Mehmood Kiani has requested the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change to carry out an assessment of air quality in Islamabad so that necessary measures can be taken to protect the health of the city’s residents.

“Global climate change and deteriorating quality of urban air are affecting human health in a major way. The health effects of air pollution may include difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing, asthma and aggravation of respiratory and cardiac conditions. The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Declining air quality is a huge environmental issue in Islamabad; evidence indicates that air pollutants contribute to serious, even fatal, damage to the cardiovascular system – and air pollution is a factor that you can’t control just through healthy lifestyle,” the Minister states in a letter written to the PM’s adviser.

To address the situation, a rapid assessment of Particulate Matter 10 and 2.5 may be measured in different locations in high industrial zones of I-9 and I-10, Aamer has suggested. The particulate matter in industries will be measured through Haz-dust EPAM (Environmental Particulate Air Monitor-5000), available with Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Climate Change. EPAM-5000 is a portable instrument for measuring indoor environmental and ambient air monitoring. "Your kind support for this assessment project is required to help us in measurement of the PM level in different areas of Islamabad,” the letter states, ending with a request to direct the EPA to extend its full support to investigators of the Health Services Academy, Islamabad.

The declining quality of air is the biggest environmental issue in Islamabad. Particulate matter in smoke causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Urban air pollution in terms of particulate matter is estimated to cause around 22,000 premature deaths among adults and 700 deaths among young children annually. Indoor air pollution causes deaths of more than 30,000 children per year.