Studies & scientific projects to address air pollution: KISR
Quarter of world’s diseases caused by exposure to pollutants
KUWAIT CITY, April 3, (KUNA): Director-General of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) Dr Samira Omar, stressed Monday KISR’s keeness on the air pollution as an important environmental issue in Kuwait.
During the opening of (Indoor Air Quality In Dry And Hot Climates) workshop, Dr Omar said, the pollution not only includes outside air but the inside air as well, which is one of the most important factors affecting human health, especially that the most time of life is spent inside homes and offices.
Any imbalance in the standards of internal air clarity and humidity will cause unhealthy conditions leading to permanent or temporary diseases that will affect also the level of human productivity, she added.
For her part, Head of the Environment and Life Sciences Research Center Dr Faiza Al-Yamani said the workshop is the first of its kind in Kuwait and the Middle East, aims at measuring indoor and outdoor air pollution as well measuring its severity to ensure its consistency with national safety standards and adopting a policy to improve air quality.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) statistics show that a quarter of the world’s diseases is caused by exposure to pollutants in the domestic environment and have an effect on the respiratory and nervous system, she said.
The center’s air quality group is working on developing strategies to improve air quality and health in Kuwait by giving recommendations based on the research methodology of government and industrial decision makers on the best ways and means to mitigate the effects of air pollution, air quality control and pollution reduction techniques, she added.
For his part, head of the workshop’s organizing committee Dr Mohammad Yaseen said, the institute held this workshop as a step to support and enhance cooperation and exchange of experiences among scientific institutions in all parts of the world and to show the results of scientific research on indoor air pollution.
WHO announced that 2.4 million people die every year due to some factors caused by air pollution, where 1.5 million of them die from diseases caused by indoor pollution, he said.
A group of experts and researchers from Arab, Islamic and foreign countries who participated at the workshop presented more than 35 scientific papers dealt with the latest scientific research on internal air quality.