According to AirVisual, Jakarta ranks third as a city with the highest levels of air pollution in the world. As of August 24 2018, Indonesia's Air Quality Index (AQI) is at number 156 which is included in the unhealthy air category. Even though AQI can change every day and even be different in the morning and at night, every day the AQI in Jakarta is not far from these numbers and categories.
The severity of air pollution in Jakarta is not the only air problem in Indonesia. Several other cities in Indonesia, such as Palangka Raya and Pekanbaru also often have low air quality due to forest fires that often occur in the dry season.
In fact, not only in Indonesia, the problem of air pollution has also become a world problem. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of ten people worldwide live with polluted air. WHO also notes that air pollution kills up to seven million people every year. Not surprisingly, even though the effect is not immediate, too often inhaling high-pollution air causes several dangerous diseases that interfere with the respiratory system, including the lungs.
As a citizen of the world who lives in an area with a high level of air pollution, you must know what diseases threaten you. In addition, you also need to have an understanding of how to prevent air pollution from damaging your health.
Quoting the WHO statement, air pollution has a big contribution to three diseases of the respiratory system. Air pollution contributes 25 percent to disease and death from lung cancer, 17 percent to disease and death from ARI, and 8 percent from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). From these data, we can see that lung cancer, which is synonymous with smoking, can also be caused by air pollution. The risk of developing lung cancer is even greater if you are a smoker who lives in an environment with high air pollution.
Meanwhile, ARI due to air pollution very easily attacks groups who have low immune systems, such as infants, children, the elderly, and you or someone close to you who has a chronic disease. If people with ARI continue to live in air polluted places, inflammation and damage to the lungs can occur.
As dangerous as lung cancer, COPD is another lung disease caused by air pollution. COPD is a permanent or incurable disease. COPD occurs when the lungs are inflamed, damaged, narrowed due to pollutants from exhaust fumes and factory exhaust gases.
Apart from these three diseases, researchers from the University of Leicester, England, found another impact of exposure to air pollution particles on lung function. When your body is exposed to high levels of pollutants, your lung function suffers the equivalent of approximately one year of aging. The impact of lung aging is greater if you regularly do outdoor activities.
Even though it is dangerous and a solution must be found immediately, air pollution is not a problem that can be dealt with in an instant. For that, you need to adjust to worsening weather conditions. Apart from that, you can also make a real contribution to preventing the worsening of air pollution levels in the areas where you live and work. Here's what you can do:
- Reducing the use of private vehicles and utilizing public transportation.
- Create a small garden filled with anti-pollutant plants, such as Betel Gading and Paris Lily plants.
- Start using a bicycle or walking to travel short distances.
- Minimizing the use of electricity so as to reduce the use of coal whose combustion can cause air pollution.
- Don't burn trash.
The problem of air pollution is our shared responsibility. Come on, start caring about the state of the environment starting from ourselves so that the air can come back fresh and our bodies are always healthy. #LiveExcellently