Acute Respiratory Infections Claim Lives of More Than 35,000 People in India
More than 35,000 people had died due to acute respiratory infections (ARI) across India in close to 10 years.
The environment ministry shared the details about the air pollution deaths and also informed the Parliament that more than 2.6 crore of such cases were reported every year.
"Air pollution is known to be one of the aggravating factors for many respiratory ailments and cardiovascular diseases," said Prakash Javadekar, environment and forest minister.
The ministry,shared statistics related to ARI deaths from 2006 to 2015 and also listed a number of measures being taken by it to minimize the impact of air pollution.
"Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis etc are the diseases caused by exposure to increasing air pollution," the minister stated.
In May, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s report showed that deaths due to air pollution have increased fourfold across the globe over the past decade. China and india were the worst affected countries.
A recent study published in Environmental Science and Technology journal had claimed that foul air was killing up to 80 people a day in Delhi alone.
According to the Center for Science and Environment's (CSE) analysis of government data and the Global Burden of Disease report's data on India, air pollution is the fifth leading cause of death in India after high blood pressure, indoor air pollution, tobacco smoking and poor nutrition.
Source: Medindia