People in Delhi struggle to breathe every day. Some even use a nebulizer at night in order to take medicines in the form of vapour in order to help their lungs function. Pollution tends to drop when it rains, but the air quality tends to get worse as clouds trap toxic gases at ground level. Toxic gases and other air pollutants hang low when the sky is overcast, which aggravates asthma and other respiratory problems. Children are hit worst because their developing immune system and lungs are not as strong as those of adults.
Respiratory problems in children can worsen progressively. Children with respiratory disorders live with the constant fear of getting an asthma attack. There are thousands of children who are suffering from asthma and other respiratory disorders that are triggered and aggravated by Delhi’s air, which happens to be the dirtiest of any city in the world, according to the surveys conducted by the World Health Organization.
Lung damage is the worst among Delhi’s children, since 40% have weak lungs, according to a city survey. The survey was conducted on 2,000 children between March 31 and April 30, this year. The survey showed that Delhi children are the most affected by the toxic air, with 21% having poor lung capacity and another 19% having a lung capacity that can be termed as “bad”. The facts shown by the survey confirmed that the young lungs of children were being destroyed by the rising levels of air pollution in the national capital.
The city of Bangalore was a close second to Delhi in the survey, with 36% of its children affected by poor lung health followed by 35% of children in Kolkata and 27% of children in Mumbai. The survey, which covered four cities, was conducted by a health foundation. Children travelling in open vehicles such as rickshaws and auto rickshaws are the worst affected, as they are exposed to much more toxic air in comparison to those travelling in covered vehicles such as buses and cars.
In Delhi alone, 92% of children travelling by open vehicles fared worse in terms of lung health, in comparison to just 8% of those who used covered vehicles such as cars and buses. An earlier study conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board found that every third child in Delhi is suffering from poor lung health because of the ever increasing problem of air pollution in the city. Gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and others are responsible for the poor lung health in children.
Kids tend to breathe more for each kilogram that they gain in weight during their childhood. When they breathe more, they end up inhaling more pollutants. In addition to that, children also play outdoors which makes them extremely vulnerable to lung related problems along with elderly people. This has led worried parents to keep their children indoors, and in some cases, to take the drastic measure of leaving the city.
