DHAKA, June 16, 2025 (BSS) - A 14-year old boy Nahid, who supposed to be in school or playground at this age, has been working as a helper of a human hauler widely known as tempo for survival. He used to stay on Jatrabari-Demra road from early morning to 11:00pm everyday for living from hand to mouth. He has been passing his days in dust, air and sound pollution. Last week, Nahid did not come to duty. After health checking, it was found that Nahid had been facing breathing and coughing difficulties. Doctor said that he had developed this problem due to prolonged exposure to excessive dust.
 
Reshma, a 39-year-old widow, has been working in a tobacco factory in Khulna. Reshma feels sick almost every time due to the smell of tobacco and tobacco powder dust. Asthma and shortness of breath are her daily problems. 

Reshma says, “After my husband’s death, I did not get married again as I have two children. As a result, I was bound to work at the tobacco factory due to the need for livelihood since I did not get expected job…Now, I am waiting for death.” 
 
Likewise Nahid and Reshma, thousands of women and children across the country are victims of air pollution. Some are in the workplace, some are on the streets. Air pollution affects men and women of all ages. Children and women are the most vulnerable of such pollution, said experts.
 
Experts opined that smoke emitted from industries and vehicles alongside population growth and urbanization are some major causes of air pollution. Air pollution occurs for various reasons, many of which are beyond human control. Dust storms in deserts and smoke emitted from forest and cropland or grass fires cause chemical and dust pollution in the air. Air pollution occurs when harmful substances are mixed in the air. 

Air pollution causes health problems while the environment and resources are also destroyed. As a result, the ozone layer in the atmosphere becomes thinner. This affects the climate and also causes global climate change.
  
The World Bank's report titled 'Breathing Heavy: New Evidence on Air Pollution and Health in Bangladesh' says that an estimated 80,000 people die every year in the country due to high levels of air pollution. Under this situation, the human respiratory system is remained in the most vulnerable state, which causes various complications including breathing shortness and coughing. 

Experts say that air pollution causes a loss of 3.9 to 4.4 percent of GDP annually. However, outdoor air pollution poses a huge impact on the physical and mental health of Dhaka and Sylhet.
 
Dhaka has once again been ranked among the most polluted cities in the world according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) of 269 ppm. This level of pollution means that the air quality is 'unhealthy'. In addition, Wuhan of China and New Delhi of India are in second and third positions on this list with AQI air quality of 252 and 214 respectively.
 
The carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, lead, ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and dioxide are the major contributors of polluting the air.  

Other gases produced by nitric acid such as nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc. used in gold factories, gases derived from sulfur compounds, chlorine compounds, etc. used in almost all factories can also be considered major causes of air pollution.
 
However, due to increased awareness and various steps taken by the government, the rate of increase in air pollution has been curbed.

The size of the carbon particles in the smoke emitted from vehicles or fuel is less than 10 nanometers. They float in the air and can remain in the air for several weeks. This is a special reason.
 
Air is polluted in various ways like waste, dust, dirt, factory smoke, etc. Due to air pollution, various respiratory infections occur. 
 
Regional Advisor for South East Asia of the World Health Organization Dr. Md. Mozaherul Haque came up with some solutions to address the air pollution.   
 
“Good management of waste can save us from many diseases. Because, this waste itself is polluting the air. This polluted air also contains all the elements that need to be present in the disease. Anyone can get infected in the respiratory system from this.” he said. 
 
Just as we should not throw this garbage in the open, those who are responsible for cleaning it should also clean it before dawn. But that is not happening, he said, adding that if we can make arrangements so that it is removed from here before dawn, and if we can seal and close the places where the sewerage is open, then we can be free from many diseases.
 
“What we are seeing is development. There is no doubt about it. But we need to see how much damage we are doing in carrying out this development, especially how much health risks are increasing. The dust pollution caused by air pollution can be stopped very easily,” he said. 
 
“As we saw earlier, the municipality had some vehicles. These vehicles would spray water. The vehicle would go and wet the road with water. It could control the dust. It could give us safer air. I think this should be done,” he continued.