Air pollution poses a grave health risk in India

Causing 18 per cent of deaths in India and a loss of $36.8 billion in 2019, air pollution is an urgent and pressing obstacle on India’s target to become a $5-trillion economy by 2024.

Stating this, a study by the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative, published in the reputed medical journal, The Lancet, pointed out that air pollution killed nearly 1.7million in India in 2019 – of which, 0.98 million deaths were due to ambient particulate matter pollution and 0.61 million due to household air pollution. The economic loss due to air pollution was 1.36% per cent of India’s GDP in 2019.

Prof. Lalit Dandona, Director of the initiative, who is also National Chair of Population Health at ICMR, Professor at PHFI, and senior author of this paper has said that improved methods in this paper have led to a higher estimate of the impact of air pollution on health and disease in India than previously estimated.

In October, the State of Global Air 2020 report had highlighted that 1.6 million premature deaths in India are attributable to the menace of air pollution in 2019 alone.

As Down to Earth highlights, the report has both good and bad news for India: Indoor, or household, air pollution caused 64 per cent fewer deaths in the last two decades (1990-2019).The bad news is that outdoor air pollution, or ambient air pollution, is not only increasing but also killing more.

The death rate due to ambient particulate matter pollution increased by 115.3% from 1990 to 2019, due to ambient ozone pollution increase of 139.2% and household air pollution increase by 64.2%. Of the total deaths attributed to air pollution, 32.5% were due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 29.2% due to ischemic heart disease, 16.2% due to stroke and 11.2% due to lower respiratory infections.

The report notes, the fight against household air pollution needs to be intensified, given household pollution is a large contributor to the overall particulate matter pollution.

The study explains that the death rate due to household air pollution decreased by 64.2% from 1990 to 2019, while that due to ambient particulate matter pollution increased by 115.3% and that due to ambient ozone pollution increased by 139.2%.

The economic loss due to premature deaths and illness attributable to air pollution — outdoor and household — as a percentage of state GDP was 1.08% in Delhi. The highest loss to GDP was recorded by Uttar Pradesh at nearly 2.6% followed by Bihar at 1.9% and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan 1.7% each.

Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar endure maximum exposure to PM2.5 pollution while 70% of the populations in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha are still dependent on solid fuels.

A Weather Channel reports highlights that data presented in the study shows that most of the states suffering maximum economic losses due to exposure to pollution are also the states with the lowest per-capita income. The states across Indo-Gangetic Plain, including Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, endure maximum exposure to PM2.5 pollution, with an annual mean concentration of more than 100 units, while the international safe limit for PM2.5 exposure remains 10 units. The annual average population-weighted mean PM2.5 concentration was shown to be 91.7 units in India in 2019.

On the other hand, more than 70% per cent of the populations in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam and Meghalaya, are still dependent on solid fuels, increasing the risk of deaths due to household air pollution exponentially.

The study records that the high burden of air pollution in India and its substantial adverse impact on output could impede India’s overall economic development and social wellbeing unless they are addressed as a priority. The variations in these impacts between states indicate that investments in state-specific air pollution control strategies are needed to reduce the significant adverse health and economic impact of air pollution across India.

Citing the US, the study said every dollar invested in the control of ambient air pollution since 1970 is estimated to have yielded an economic benefit of $30, based on the willingness-to-pay approach. The study highlights the reduction in pollution in the US as a case example that a substantial reduction in pollution can be achieved even with a growing economy.

The government has launched several programmes to curb air pollution. The National Clean Air Programme launched in 2019 aims for a 20-30% reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024 in 102 cities.