Abstract

If air pollution is causing a serious threat to public health in most of the urban centers in the developing countries. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Three pollutants- Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), Sulfur dioxide (S02), and air-borne-lead pose significant air pollution problems, and have major public health impacts. Among the pollutants, SPM whose levels are 5 to 6 times higher than Bangladesh Standard in the heavily polluted districts in Dhaka is the most harmful one.

In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the health impacts of SPM in Dhaka city for 2002. Risk assessment of PM10 has been performed. An evaluation of economic loss due to adverse health effects has also been made. Results from this analysis showed that the number of excess death per annum due to PM10 pollution in Dhaka is 10,350. For PM10 pollution, this study predicts about 74 thousand cases of chronic bronchitis, about 70 million cases of restricted activity days, about 14 thousand cases of respiratory hospital diseases, over 286 thousand emergency room visits, about 2.8 million cases of asthma attacks and over 220 million respiratory symptom days.

In case of economic evaluation of impacts, it has been found that over taka 83 billion comes as the total cost for excess death, over taka 20 billion as cost of chronic bronchitis, 5 million taka as cost of restricted activity days, taka 153 million as cost of respiratory hospital diseases, taka 114 million as cost of emergency room visits, taka 42 billion cost of asthma attacks, taka 11 billion as cost of respiratory symptoms days. Thus the total cost came out to be about taka 124 billion, which shows a tremendous loss to the economy i.e., 3-4 % of national GDP. This study will provide useful information on the impacts of air pollution on the national economy as well as planning and decision taking processes regarding air pollution management.