Dhaka’s air quality remains moderate

Dhaka’s air quality continues to be in the ‘moderate’ zone, all thanks to the intermittent monsoon showers.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 95 at 8.57 am, the densely populated metropolis ranked 14th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.

Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Peru’s Lima and China’s Beijing occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI score of 372, 153 and 149, respectively.

An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

On the other hand, an AQI between 101 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’, particularly for sensitive groups.

Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be ‘poor’, while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered ‘hazardous’, posing serious health risk to residents.

AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants—Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.

With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.

Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognized as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased morality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.