Causes of Air Pollution in Bangladesh’s Capital City and Its Impacts on Public Health

Abstract

Air is one of the precious natural resources which is essential for living beings. Pollution in the urban areas like Cairo, Delhi, Mexico and Dhaka far surpasses the acceptable limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Urban air pollution in the South Asian region is approximated to cause more than 300,000 deaths and billions of cases of respiratory disease per year. In Bangladesh, about 200,000 people die each year due to air pollution as the WHO estimates in 2018. The air in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, has worsened to a level that the city has been identified as one of the most polluted cities in the world. Taking the problem with utmost importance into consideration as it is related to public health, air pollution is being treated as one of the priority issues. The level of pollution in the roadside environment is deeply connected with the density of motor vehicles plying on the roads. This situation is expected to worsen further in the upcoming days due to the increasing number of motor vehicles resulted from rapid economic growth and industrialization. This paper aims to provide the present status of air pollution in Dhaka city and some specific recommendations for making the city a better living place by reducing its air pollution.