Air Pollution, Poverty and Health in Ho Chi Minh City

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Air Pollution, Poverty and Health in Ho Chi Minh
City

• Nguyen Dinh TuanHCMC Environmental Protection
  Agency
• BAQ 2006
• Yogyakarta - Indonesia

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• Ho Chi Minh city
• Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, the largest
  city in Vietnam, has more than 6 million people
• Northeast of the Mekong river, 910 square miles
  of flat land.
• Mean temperature between the high 80 to high 90
  degrees Farenheit

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• Ho Chi Minh city
• The urban area occupies 10 of total land and is
  divided into 19 urban districts and 5 rural
  districts. The main industries consist of
  production of sea food, textiles, chemicals,
  plastics, and building materials, food
  processing.
• There are more than 1,000 large-scale
  enterprises, and over 30,000 small factories.
  Rapid economic development has also brought more
  migrants to the city, contributing to the traffic
  congestion and urban crowding
• There are more than 2.5 millions motorcycles, and
  260,000 automobiles. The city has 38 hospitals
  and clinics, and there are about 9 medical
  doctors per 100,000 people

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• Ho Chi Minh city

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Map of air quality monitoring sites in HCMC
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• Air Pollutants

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(No Transcript)
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Mannual air quality monitoring
Three sites were installed since 1993 Hang Xanh
cross road, Dinh Tien Hoang Dien Bien Phu
corner, Phu Lam cross road. Three sites were
installed since 2005 Go Vap cross road, Tan
Thuan cross road, An Suong cross road. Monitoring
frequency 10 days per month. Monitoring times
Samples were collected in 7 am, 10 am and 3 pm.
Measured variables CO, TSP, Pb, NO2, noise
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Urban background air quality (residential areas)
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Roadside air quality (Automatic)
The annual average PM10 concentration
measured at road side- traffic stations have
reduced lightly through years
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Roadside air quality (Automatic)
The annual average CO concentration measured at
road side- traffic stations have increased
lightly through years
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Roadside air quality
The CO concentration measured at the manual air
quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 9.4
16mg/m3 that met the Vietnam Standard. (TCVN
5937 1995 CO 40 mg/m3)
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Roadside air quality
The TSP concentration measured at the manual air
quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 0.45
0.96 mg/m3. All the TSP concentration exceeded
the Vietnam Standard (300mg/m3).
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The NO2 concentration measured at manual air
quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 0.12
0.26 mg/m3. All the NO2 concentration met the
Vietnam Standard (400mg/m3).
Roadside air quality
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Roadside air quality
The Pb concentration measured at manual air
quality monitoring sites have reduced remarkable
from 06/2001. All the Pb concentration met the
Vietnam Standard (5ug/m3).
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Admissions for Respiratory Illness, HCMC
Childrens Hospital 1
cases
year

• There was relation between diseases and air
  pollution
• Asthma increased quickly

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DISTRIBUTION BY AGE - DISEASES RELATED TO AIR
POLLUTION

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• Poverty
• District-level poverty status was derived using
  mid-term census data and data from the
  longitudinal Vietnam Household and Living
  Standard Survey (VHLSS), and small-area
  estimation method

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Studying Air Pollution, Poverty, and Health in
HCMC

• Overall Objectives
• Develop feasible approaches to studying air
  pollution, poverty, and health
• Methods appropriate for HCMC context
• Methods suitable for use in other cities -
  promote building an evidence base across Asian
  cities
• Develop infrastructure for future studies of the
  health effects of air pollution in HCMC
• Technical capacity (epidemiologic methods,
  exposure assessment, analysis)
• Resources (data integration, equipment)

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Proposed Methods

• Component 1 (C1) Hospital-based study
• Estimate the effect of short-term exposure to air
  pollution on hospital admissions for ALRI in
  young children (lt5 years) in HCMC
• Compare the magnitude of the effect of air
  pollution on poor children vs. other children
• Component 2 (C2) Household-based study
• Estimate personal exposures to air pollution
  among the poor and the non-poor
• ambient air pollution
• other sources (cooking with solid fuels, cottage
  industries)
• Estimate prevalence of respiratory symptoms in
  HCMC
• Survey of perceptions and economic costs
• Component 3 (C3) Policy Analysis Capacity
  Building Awareness Building

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Hypotheses to be tested

• H1 the poor experience greater health impacts
  from ambient air pollution (C1 and C2)
• H2 the poor are more exposed to air pollution
  (C2)
• H3 exposures of the poor are more correlated
  with ambient air pollution (C2)
• H4 the poor are more vulnerable to ambient
  air pollution (C1)

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Methods development and dissemination

• This is the first project of its kind in Asia!
• Targeted technical assistance and capacity
  building will be provided
• Necessary infrastructure will be provided
  (example equipment for air quality monitoring
  and analysis)
• Collaborators will make presentations at
  international workshops and conferences
  (CAI-Asia, technical conferences)
• Researchers from other Asian cities will be
  invited to learn more about the study

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• Motivation and Structure of Collaboration
• Vietnam serves as a good model for future studies
  in similar regions (including capacity building)

HEI ADB
HCMC Health Department
International Collaborators
HCMC HEPA
HCMC Hospitals
HCMC Bureau of Statistics
HCMC DOLISA
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Interdisciplinary team of collaborators
Organization(s) Responsibilities
Department of Public Health (DPH) Local leadership, management, and coordination
Other local collaborating agencies CH1, CH2, HEPA, CASE, Bureau of Statistics, DOLISA Provide retrospective data, assess respiratory health prevalence, exposure monitoring and modeling, environmental sample analysis, administer household survey, assessment of socio-economic position
Health Effects Institute (HEI) Overall study management and technical assistance (study design, epidemiologic methods, exposure assessment)
International Scientific Oversight Committee (ISOC) Technical guidance and scientific oversight
External Consultants Technical assistance (biostatistics)
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Thank you very much for your attention