'Green' diseases kill 650 people in UAE every year

Despite being lower than the global standard, the environmental diseases are still a major contributor to premature mortality in the UAE, according to the latest study.

There are nearly an average 650 deaths per annum in the UAE due to ambient air pollution – a leading contributor to premature mortality, study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers showed.

Ambient air pollution can cause or exacerbate asthma and contamination of drinking water and seafood supplies can contribute to various illnesses including cancer.

The objectives of the study were to quantify the illnesses and premature deaths in the UAE attributable to 14 environmental pollutant categories; prioritize these 14 risk factors; and identify interventions.

Doctors in the UAE have advised patients suffering from asthma to stay indoors during the dust storms – which have been engulfing the whole region. The doctors have also reported increase in the number of patients suffering from eye and respiratory diseases.

“The UAE environmental disease burden is low by global standards.

Ambient air pollution is the leading contributor to premature mortality (approximately 650 annual deaths). Risks leading to more than 10,000 annual healthcare facility visits include occupational exposures, indoor air pollution, drinking water contamination, seafood contamination, and ambient air pollution,” Environmental Health Perspectives journal said quoting the report.

The research team prepared quantitative risk estimates and then worked with dozens of stakeholders, including leaders of businesses, government agencies, health-care facilities and universities.

Fifty-six stakeholders submitted rankings of 14 risk factors in order of priority. They almost unanimously agreed that outdoor air pollution is the greatest risk. Most stakeholders also ranked indoor air pollution as the second most important risk and occupational exposures in industry as third.

Majority of stakeholders unanimously agreed that outdoor air pollution is the greatest risk. Most stakeholders also ranked indoor air pollution as the second most important risk and occupational exposures in industry as third.

“On average, UAE stakeholders ranked outdoor air pollution as the highest priority and indoor air pollution as the second-highest priority among the 14 risks considered. The resulting strategic plan identifies 216 potential interventions for reducing environmental risks to health,” EHP said.

"The goal was to assess and prioritise strategies to reduce the pollution-related health risks being made inevitable by growth and development," Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator and UNC assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering, was quoted as saying.

"This is believed to be the first time a nation has commissioned a comprehensive model of the national burden of disease from environmental health risks. They are taking a long-term perspective in a world too often focused on short-term thinking."

There was disagreement on some issues. For example, risk from water pollution was ranked second most important by five stakeholders and least important by four. Those who ranked it least important stressed the nation's drinking water is highly treated with advanced desalination systems and that many people drink bottled water, Science Codex said quoting report.