Research suggests Indo-Gangetic Plain most affected, Uttar Pradesh at centre of it
A child with pneumonia and breathing problems admitted to a hospital in Gorakhpur. Photo: Satyendra Sarthak Polluted air choking the residents of Delhi-National Capital Region have grabbed headlines like every year, but several other cities in the Indo-Gangetic Plains are also grappling with toxic air. Ground visits in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh showed that children are being affected disproportionately by the annual air pollution problem in North India.
Four-month-old Yash from Sajnapara village in Gorakhpur district, UP has contracted pneumonia. Eight days ago, he started coughing and had shortness of breath the next day. A doctor in Bhiti tehsil in Ambedkar Nagar district asked the parents to take the child to Gorakhpur.
Yash is now admitted to Ram Janaki Hospital in Daudpur, where his condition is critical. The child’s father Khanjar Lal and mother Janaki are constantly monitoring their son and said they don’t know the cause of his condition.
Read more: Delhiites breathe in PM2.5 almost 30 times WHO safe limits
“There has been an increase in the number of children suffering from respiratory diseases in the last few days,” said Dr Raghav, a paediatrician posted in the children's ward of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose District Hospital, Gorakhpur. “These children have a severe cough in the morning and are having trouble breathing. Because their lungs are shrinking due to pollution, they must be given steam via nebuliser. However, there is no immediate need for hospitalisation.”
The Indo-Gangetic Plain is particularly affected by air pollution, according to a report by climate think tank Climate Trends. Seven of the top 10 most polluted cities lie within this plain, covering areas in Delhi-NCR and Bihar, and UP is at the centre of it, the report said, adding that 99.4 per cent of the state’s population is concentrated in geographical areas with severe air pollution.
In 2018, non-profit Climate Agenda studied 14 districts of UP and released a report on air pollution named Air Kills. Small cities like Gorakhpur and Mau are more polluted than the national capital Delhi and UP capital Lucknow, the paper found. Air pollution plagues the rural areas as well and the entire state is under a “health emergency”, it added.
The number of pollution monitoring centres in several major cities in the state have also gone down — Gorakhpur has just one. A bulletin by Central Pollution Control Board on November 7, 2023 stated that the air quality in the city was in the ‘poor’ category of the Air Quality Index (AQI), between 195 and 225. Earlier on November 5, the AQI of the city was 279.
The deteriorating condition of the air is not only making children sick but is also affecting unborn children and pregnant people. Exposure to pollutants during pregnancy can lead to premature birth, intrauterine growth retardation, stillbirths, low birth weights, abnormal head circumference and more. It can also affect to neurodevelopment and cognitive abilities.
Any type of pollutant damages the lungs, said Dr Sudhir Gupta, former chairman of the department of gynaecology at Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College. “Due to pollution, pregnant people cannot get enough oxygen, which affects the foetus’s natural development. Furthermore, the higher the sulphur content of air pollution, the greater the risk of miscarriage,” he said.
Air pollution hampers both the physical and mental development of a child, said Dr Bhupendra Sharma, chairman of the paediatrics department of BRD Medical College. “It can also lead to anaemia in pregnant people, which greatly reduces the chance of delivering a healthy baby,” he said.
There is no such research detailing all the effects of increasing air pollution on pregnant people and foetuses, said the doctor when asked about any case of an affected foetus. “However, it is clear that pollution affects the foetus,” he said.
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