Study links pollution to hospital visits
Scientists have found a direct link between air pollution levels and hospital admissions in Tayside.
A team at the University of Dundee studied the medical records of 450 patients with bronchiectasis against 15 years of pollution data for the study.
They discovered that many had sought medical help on days when pollution levels spiked, BBC wrote.
They concluded that a ‘fairly modest’ cut in pollution would have prevented nearly 1,000 medical interventions.
Bronchiectasis is a chronic condition that causes a persistent cough, breathlessness and chest infections.
Professor James Chalmers, who helped lead the study, said that during period of high pollution there were large increases in admissions to Ninewells Hospital and Perth Royal In¿rmary for those with breathing problems, which was also witnessed at GP surgeries.
He added: “The patients we looked at, who all suffer from lung conditions, are to my mind the canary in the coalmine on this issue — they are the ¿rst and most seriously affected by air pollution but it can affect us all.”
Chalmers said that the issue was particularly acute in areas where heavy traf¿c contributed to poor air quality and that Scotland was still regularly exceeding EU and Scottish safety limits.
Air quality is monitored at dozens of sites across Scotland, where measurements of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter linked to health problems, is recorded.
They have shown Seagate in Dundee and Atholl Street in Perth are among the country’s most polluted streets outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The team at Dundee University said they were able to use ‘sophisticated’ medical data from NHS Tayside for their study because the health authority had digitized patient records years ago.
Ian Jarrold, head of research at the British Lung Foundation, acknowledged that it was well-known that people with lung conditions were the ¿rst to become breathless when exposed to air pollution.
He added: “Thanks to this study, we now know that there is a clear link between high levels of air pollution and increased numbers of patients with breathing problems at hospitals and GP surgeries.
“The additional costs faced by the NHS in treating patients with lung conditions due to high exposure to air pollution can no longer be ignored.”
He called for tough measures to be introduced to cut vehicle emissions in towns and cities across the UK.
The Scottish government has committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars.
Ministers have also committed to introducing low emission zones into Scotland’s biggest cities by 2020.
The research team found that the worst effects of air pollution were seen in summer when there was hot and less windy conditions combined with the fact that people tended to spend more time outdoors.
He added: “At a time when the NHS is under increasing strain, we should be looking at effective ways of preventing illness. Our data shows that a fairly modest reduction in air pollution (of 10 μg/m³ of PM10) would have prevented nearly 1000 hospital admissions and GP visits during the study period.” An increasing number of attacks on schools and lack of investment in education is jeopardizing the future of Afghan children, warned the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“The war in Afghanistan is taking its toll on a generation of children. Attacks on schools and students, lack of class-rooms and teachers, impoverishment, child labor and traumas among children jeopardize any gains made in Afghanistan and threatens the future of the country,” said Head of Program for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Afghanistan Will Carter, nrc.no reported.
Improvements within the education sector has, by NATO countries, been hailed as one of the achievements of the intervention in Afghanistan. Ahead of this week’s NATO summit, NRC calls for countries that have been involved in the war, to scale up humanitarian support to education, including psychosocial support, for displaced children. So far, only 12.5 percent of the funding needed for education support in areas affected by crisis has been provided.
“NATO countries have spent billions on the war in Afghanistan. It is therefore utterly incomprehensible that the same countries are unwilling to provide the little funding needed to support children affected by the war, especially when taking into account how important this investment is for the long-term stability of the country,” said Carter.
“Any country that truly cares about the future of Afghanistan, should urgently step up their investment in Afghan children,” he added.
In total, 2.6 million Afghan children are out of school, according to UNICEF. Poverty, child labor and lack of capacity at already overwhelmed public schools deprive many children of their right to education, with displaced children being particularly at risk.
It will be impossible for Afghanistan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring all boys and girls can complete primary education by 2030, without serious and immediate remedial action.
A worsening security situation in many parts of the country and an increasing number of attacks on schools and students are further threatening Afghan children’s future. Most recently, on July 1, 2018, an attack on a school in Khogyani District, Nangarhar, where NRC was supporting schooling for over a hundred Afghan displaced children, resulted in the killing of three staff and destruction of the school building. This attack followed a spike in the number of attacks on students, teachers and educational facilities in the province in June.
“Many Afghan boys and girls have experienced or are experiencing violence that children should never have to witness. They need support to be able to deal with their fears and traumas, and children must be protected against attacks both on their way to school and at school,” said Carter.
Exposure to continuous risk, violence and conàict has had a signi¿cant impact on Afghan children’s psychosocial health. 55 percent of the respondents in a new study by the Norwegian Refugee Council cite psycho-social health needs as the biggest challenge for displaced Afghan children. Nightmares, Àashbacks, physical pain, nausea, fainting, dif¿culty concentrating or socializing, and strong emotional responses such as frequent crying or anger were all common, according to the study, where more than a thousand displaced children, parents and teachers were surveyed.