Air pollution has become a curse for millions of city-dwellers in Asia, posing a mounting risk to the very young and very old, pregnant women and people with heart and respiratory problems, say experts.
"The levels of pollution in parts of China, India and elsewhere in Asia are just astronomically high and the health impacts are dramatic," said Bob O'Keefe of the Health Effects Institute (HEI), a US not-for-profit research agency.
"This is a threat that was really under-estimated in the past," said O'Keefe.
This week, Singapore grappled with record levels of air pollution, unleashed by land fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
In January, pollution in Beijing went off the scale of an air-quality monitor at the US embassy, and the city's hospital admissions surged by 20 percent.
In August 2012, Hong Kong suffered its highest-recorded pollution, prompting the territory to urge vulnerable population groups to stay indoors.
HEI estimates, derived from an exceptionally detailed analysis called the Global Burden of Disease, say that some 3.2 million people around the world died prematurely from outdoor air pollution in 2010.
Source: AFP News
Jarumemas: IT is getting worst in Putrajaya today. My throat gets dry and my eyes feel itchy.
