HO CHI MINH, VIET NAM (10 October 2006) - A major project to investigate the impact of air pollution on the health of people living in poverty was formally launched today in Ho Chi Minh City.
The project over 30 months will examine how air pollution affects the health of children and their families, and whether the effects are higher among the poor.
"Poverty, environment and health linkages are widespread, complex and fundamental to our understanding of, and response to, the region’s sustainable development challenges," says Urooj Malik, a Director in ADB's Southeast Asia Department. "This project provides a timely and important opportunity to enhance the practical and scientific basis for such efforts."
Titled Air Pollution, Poverty and Health Effects in Ho Chi Minh City, the project is funded by a grant of US$600,000 the Asian Development Bank through its Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund (PRF) financed by the United Kingdom Department for International Development. The Health Effects Institute (HEI) and the Ho Chi Minh City Government will contribute $200,000 and $150,000, respectively, toward the project's total cost of $900,000.
"The levels of both air pollution and the extent of poverty in Ho Chi Minh City are somewhat lower than those typically found in many large cities in developing countries," said Robert O’Keefe, Vice President of HEI. "But the technical capabilities and commitment of our Vietnamese partners coupled with the availability of high quality health and environmental data led to Ho Chi Minh City's selection as the first to be studied and underscored its role as a model for others."
In many cities across Asia, air pollution routinely exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines and national standards. With extensive numbers of the world’s poor living in highly polluted areas of Asia’s cities, increased effects of air pollution on the health of these people could have a significant impact on public health and implications for public policy and air pollution mitigation.
"We are pleased that the team from Ho Chi Minh City has been selected to lead the first comprehensive study in Asia to examine these important questions," said Le Truong Giang, Vice Director of the HCMC Department of Health.
The project is led by a team from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health (DOH) and Environmental Protection Agency (HEPA) working with scientists from the HEI Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia program. It is conducted under the auspices of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) , an ADB supported multi-stakeholder initiative mandated to promote the improvement of air quality management across the Asia region.
For further information about this project, contact:
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