Dhaka’s air ‘good’ on Tuesday morning

With an air quality index (AQI) score of 44, Dhaka ranked 77th on the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality at 11:11 am.

Democratic Republic of the Congo's Kinshasa, the USA’s Detroit and Uganda’s Kampala occupied the first three spots on the list, with AQI scores of 160, 155, and 153, respectively.

AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used 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 in winter and improves during the monsoon.

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.

According to the World Health Organization (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, reports UNB.