A Project Presentation
Philippine-Swedish Co-operation on Air Quality Management in the Philippines
A description of the Project and what has been achieved
The Ambient Air Quality in Metro Manila is notorious
The Ambient Air Quality in Metro Manila is notorious
These are pictures taken at the intersection outside the big shopping mall on north EDSA, Quezon City where ten thousands of people pay a visit every day...
 Click to make the picture larger. The picture size is adjusted for a screen 1024*768 pixels. |
 Click to make the picture larger. The picture size is adjusted for a screen 1024*768 pixels. |
 Click to make the picture larger. The picture size is adjusted for a screen 1024*768 pixels. |
 Click to make the picture larger. The picture size is adjusted for a screen 1024*768 pixels. |
... and this is the environment along the main street through the city, EDSA, in which passengers, bus staff, traffic enforcers, street vendors, street children and many, many more spend their days...
The following article describes the practical results on an individual level of the ambient air pollution situation:
| Children
unwilling victims of air pollution
November 23, 2001. Inquirer News Service ROLLY D., age 5, has been in-and-out of the hospital for recurrent respiratory tract infections. Jun S., 11 years old, has the intelligence quotient (IQ) of a seven-year old. Dina G., born 11 months ago, is presently fighting for her young life in the intensive care unit of a Manila hospital, hooked to a respirator to help her breathe. The three children have one thing in common. They all live in polluted areas in Metro Manila. Health experts are sounding the alarm that a special population at risk with the alarming problem of air pollution are children, especially those under six years of age. Many are falling ill and dying from the effects of this worsening problem. In Metro Manila, allergy specialists noted a significant increase in cases of asthma among children under 13 years of age. |
"We have to
seriously address the problem of air pollution, if only for our children's
sake. It
is our self-inflicted big-terrorism, posing a more real and imminent
threat than anthrax or other forms of biological warfare," warns Dr.
Benigno Agbayani, Sr., a professor emeritus of the UP College of Medicine.
Dr. Camilo Roa, Jr., another UP professor and a past president of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians explains that because of their physiology, children are much more likely than adults to develop' smog-related lung damage. For their body size, children inhale several times more air than adults, and they breathe faster, particularly during: strenuous physical activity. In addition, they spend more time outdoors than any other segments of the population. An article published in the British Medical Journal quotes Dr. Miguel Celdran, a well-respected pediatrician at the Makati Medical Center, as saying: "About 90 percent of my patients have respiratory illness, and we're seeing babies as young as two months suffering from asthma. Before, this was unheard of.'' |
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Links to the information pages for this project:
| Organization / Partner | Activity / Person |
| SMHI | Provider of the
Airviro
System. Mr Kjell Wickström. |
| Manrax AB | System support and
development. Mr Robert Axelsson. |
| FDS Mätteknik AB | Provider of the
meteorological masts. Mr Anders Ekman. |
 |
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