India’s Air Quality Index continues to remain poor and ranks amongst the most worrisome countries in the world. The increasing rise in air pollution combined with stubble burning and other air pollutants make winters in India a tricky affair. The national capital’s air quality began taking a flip starting on Thursday 9 pm when it reached the “hazardous” category as people of Delhi refrained from obeying the blanket ban on firecrackers imposed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government. Although the air quality index (AQI) improved to reach the “severe” category, it is far from being healthy.
This World Pneumonia Day, 12th November, awareness and action center around the theme, ‘Stop Pneumonia/Every Breath Counts’ to reduce the burden in India. Pneumonia, an acute respiratory infection, is a recognized public health emergency in India. It is associated with an annual mortality rate of roughly 2.5 million adults and children globally. India alone accounts for 23 per cent of the global pneumonia burden. In 2018, 9,28,485 people were affected by pneumonia nationwide. An increase in AQI levels are leading to pneumonia now according to reports.
Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha Senior Consultant and Head of the Department, Pulmonology, Fortis Escorts, Faridabad said,” Air pollution causes about 7 million deaths every year, throughout the world. The most common infective cause of death due to air pollution is Pneumonia. Poor AQI means higher percentage of PM2.5 in atmosphere. Higher PM2.5 leads to impaired respiratory defense mechanisms. Those germs, which otherwise could have been cleared by the healthy respiratory tract, gains entry deeper into the lungs leading to pneumonia. Not only this, but due to prolonged air pollution, our body’s tendency to contain this invasion is also impaired, leading to simple pneumonia getting complicated. This leads to more ICU admission, hospitalizations and death.