Air Pollution is a Serious Threat to Health

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

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JAKARTA, KOMPAS— About 4 million children worldwide develop asthma each year because of inhaling nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution. As many as 64 percent of new cases of asthma are found in cities.

Indonesia has the fourth largest number of cases due to the exposure to NO2. These findings are based on a recent study conducted by George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH), which was published in the April 2019 issue of The Lancet Planetary Health.

This study was obtained by analyzing the links between global data on NO2 concentrations, the distribution of pediatric populations, and the occurrence of asthma triggered by traffic related pollution. They then calculated the number of new pediatric asthma cases caused by NO2 pollution in 194 countries and 125 major cities worldwide.

As a result, the largest number of new asthma cases caused by NO2 exposure occurred in China with 760,000 new cases per year, followed by India with 350,000 new cases per year, the United States with 240,000 new cases per year, and Indonesia with 160,000 new cases per year, and Brazil with 140,000 new cases per year.

Even though the US, Indonesia, and Brazil have similar child population sizes, the US has the highest population-related NO2 concentration, while Indonesia has the highest occurrences of asthma among these three countries.

"Our findings show that millions of new cases of pediatric asthma are increasingly worrying, but can actually be prevented by reducing air pollution," Susan C Anenberg, research coordinator, said in a statement released by the university.

Susan said that improving access to cleaner forms of transportation, like electrified public transport and active commuting by cycling and walking would reduce NO2 levels. This will reduce the number of people with asthma and increase physical fitness and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The study further reinforces the danger of air pollution on health. The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report, which was released at the 4th United Nations Session on Environment (UNEA), last month, said air pollution ranked first in the global causes of death with an average of seven million people per year.

Regarding this air pollution, forest and land fires in Indonesia in 2015, which triggered haze, were among the worst and were estimated to have contributed to 100,000 premature deaths. The quality standard specifically for NO2 pollution in cities in Indonesia, according to the monitoring of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), it is still below the threshold.

"This month, the highest NO2 level was found in Glodok (0.0350 parts per million/ppm) and the lowest level was at Monas (0.0182 ppm), but all of them were still below the standard value (0.08 ppm)," said Siswanto, the head of BMKG’s climate and air quality information division, told Kompas on Friday.

However, the latest report on the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) stated that Indonesia was one of the 20 highest polluting countries in the world.

AQLI shows that particulate pollution in Indonesia has been increasing since 1998. Since that year until 2016, the concentration of particulate pollution increased by 171 percent (Kompas, April 1, 2019).

The report compiled by EPIC is titled "Indonesia\'s Worsening Air Quality and its Impact on Life Expectancy (update March 2019)". The researchers compared the air quality of regions in Indonesia with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding fine particulate pollution (PM2.5).

Jakarta has become the most polluted city in Southeast Asia with four times above the annual safe limit according to WHO standards. While air pollution is estimated to cost the lives of around seven million people worldwide annually. This does not include economic losses. Based on world air quality reports in 2018, Jakarta and Hanoi (Vietnam) are the two most polluted cities in Southeast Asia.

From the report it is indicated that the annual average concentration of PM2.5 in 2018 in Jakarta is very bad. In South Jakarta, it reached 42.2 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3) and 37.5 μg/m3 in Central Jakarta. The PM 2.5 is air particles smaller than 2.5 microns (micrometers) (Kompas.id, March 5, 2019).

Greenpeace Indonesia\'s climate and energy activist, Bondan Andriyanu, said that the sources of NO2 pollution in Indonesia were not only transportation, but also unclean sources of electricity. "The use of electric cars only moves the source of pollution, if the electricity still comes from coal-fired power plants," he said. According to Bondan, an electric car requires 1,000 watts per day (MW/day) so that 10,000 cars will require 10 MW per day.

"The 10 MW electricity is equivalent to the emissions of 17,850 fossil fuel cars that drive 30 kilometers per day. So, there is more pollution if the electricity source still comes from fossil fuels," he said. (AIK)