Executive director of the leaded fuel eradication committee, or KPBB, Ahmad Safrudin, has said that the poor air quality in Jakarta has significantly contributed towards diseases and even death.
“We conduct research once every five years. In 2016, 58.3 percent of over 10 million Jakarta population fall ill or die due to air pollution,” Ahmad stated.
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) claimed in its 2017 findings that the harmful pollution in big cities due to households, industries, and motor vehicles has been responsible for 2.9 million cases of early death. The number of deaths is largely attributed to pollution, which triggers heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Jakarta is currently one of the world’s most polluted cities. Ahmad added that transportation has been the biggest contributor for air pollution at 46 per cent, followed by industry at 28 per cent, domestics at 17 per cent, and construction projects at 1 per cent.
Source: Tempo
Image: Channel News Asia