Dhaka ranks 3rd worst in Air Quality Index

Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has ranked third worst city in the Air Quality Index (AQI) with a score of 206 at 1pm on Monday – indicating that the air quality was "very unhealthy."

India's Delhi and Pakistan's Lahore occupied the first and second positions with a score of 285 and 255 respectively during the same period.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants – Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and Ozone.

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy during winter and improves during monsoon.

A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank (WB) in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites."

With the advent of winter, the city's air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction works, rundown roads, brick kilns, and other sources.

Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person's chances of developing heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections, and cancer, according to several studies.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.