By: Nayyab Batool
ISLAMABAD, Jun 5 (APP): Environmental toxins can contribute to conditions like cancer, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses which need immediate attention in order to ensure a healthy life & healthy planet as well, health experts warn on Monday.
The poor air quality that many people breathe as well as the dangers associated with contaminated water, transportation, sloppy sanitation, and inadequate hygiene present health concerns in a variety of ways in the home, office & outdoors.
According to WHO, an estimated 24% of the global disease burden and 23% of all deaths can be attributed to environmental factors. About 36% of this burden affects children from 0 to 14 years of age.
While talking to APP, renowned health expert Dr. Ahmed Abdullah, Associate Professor of Public Health at Al Shifa School of Public Health, shed light upon the health cost of environmental hazards in Pakistan.
“Environmental Pollution, allergens, and pollutants in the air either trigger the already held illness among people or cause a new one. It has two sides among which 1st is indoor air pollution like leaky stoves, gas heaters, fossil fuel burning & smoking at home, and the second is outdoor pollution in the overall environment.
If we are exposed to such pollution for a very long time then it can also cause respiratory cancer along with various other chronic diseases such as obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory illnesses, and asthma”.
While taking note of the most harmful air pollution he also added up the adverse effects of water & soil pollution causing a range of diseases in Pakistan.
“International classification of disease ICD-10 has 110 types of diseases among which 86 are directly or indirectly related with water causing, Blue baby syndrome due to excessive nitrate in water, diarrhea, hepatitis, Typhoid & more.
The same goes for soil pollution as well which can expose humans to allergic rhinitis, asthma, skin allergy, and other severe diseases”, He added further.
As the whole world is going towards advanced environmental measures, Pakistan and other developing countries are facing the burden of all these hazards the most, due to the disproportionate division of resources among people around the world.
This is the time that we all need to take a step forward while going for a proactive & long-term approach in order to battle these hazardous situations in our country.
According to experts in the field, Pakistan needs to go for immediate measures involving our youth also, thus initiating advanced solutions needed for the modern era.
Massive Tree plantations, public transportation, and habitat reservation are a must along with cutting carbon footprint, opting for Eco-innovation, green energy, more water reservoirs, creating waste-to-energy solutions, and ensuring proportionate & equity-based distribution of all basic resources.
