‘35% of India’s schoolkids have impaired lungs’

Around 35 per cent of school-going children in India suffer from poor lung health with Delhi topping the chart, reveals a recently released survey report. According to nation-wide survey report titled Breathe Blue’15, a worrisome 21 per cent of the children surveyed in Delhi have been tagged with ‘Poor’ lung capacity in the Lung Health Screening Test (LHST) conducted on them while another 19 per cent faring as ‘bad’.

Together this segment forms a whopping 40 per cent of the children surveyed. This was followed by Bangalore at 36 per cent (14 per cent ‘Poor’ and 22 per cent ‘Bad’), 35 per cent in Kolkata (9 per cent ‘Poor’ and 26 per cent ‘Bad’) and 27 per cent in Mumbai (13 per cent ‘Poor’ and 14 per cent ‘Bad’). 

The survey included 2,000 school students in the age group of 8-14 from all parts of the county. “The Lung Health Screening Test determines how much air the lungs can hold, how quickly one can move air in and out of their lungs, and how well the lungs take oxygen in and remove carbon dioxide out from the body. The tests can detect lung diseases and measure the severity of lung problems. Poor results on LHST mean compromised lung function and high possibilities of contracting pulmonary diseases,” Dr Preetaish Kaul, representative of HEAL Foundation.

“While rising air pollution in the country poses serious health risks for all, it is more worrisome for children as they are yet in their growth years with vital organs of the body physiologically not mature enough to deal with it,” Dr Raj Kumar, HOD Department of Respiratory allergy and applied Immunology said. He said there was an urgent need to raise awareness among people and figure out ways to address this issue effectively.

Another research of the organisation, titled CLAIM (Clean Air India Movement) - Citizens’ Awareness and Attitude Survey, suggested that majority of people think it is the whole and sole responsibility of government to clean the air, thinking that they can’t do much about it.

The survey indicated that only 15, 24, 27 and 9 per cent people in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata think that even they as individuals are also responsible for current level of air pollution.