AbstractsMedical & Health Science

Exposure to outdoor air pollution is associated with a variety of shortterm health effects including increases in daily mortality higher rates of hospital admissions increases in emergency room visits and exacerbation of asthma in many parts of the world WHO 2002 The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution contributes to approximately 800000 deaths and 4 to 6 million Disability Adjusted LifeYears DALYs annually WHO 2002 This burden of disease due to air pollution is concentrated in the rapidly developing countries of Asia including Indi but relatively few studies from the region have informed this estimate Urban ambient air quality information is routinely collected in India through a network of 503 ambient air quality monitoring stations across 209 cities in 26 states and 5 Union territories operating under the Central Pollution Control Board PCB of The Ministry of Environment and Forests Govt of India Analysis of data available in a centralized Environmental Data Bank maintained by the CPCB shows annual average concentrations for criteria air pollutants PM10 to consistently exceed the national and global The World Health Organisation Air Quality guidelines across most locations over a 10 year period between 2000 and 2010CPCB 2010 A recent review Health Effects Institute HEI 201 of air pollution related health studies in Asia reported that of the nearly 400 studies available in the Asian region in the period 1987 2007 around 43 studies were from India with most being crosssectional health studies estimating relative prevalence of respiratory symptoms and lung function in relation to interzonal differences in air quality%%%Reference pgs: 93-116 summary pgs: 90-93 ANNEXURE PGS : 117-124