Overview

Nepal is a rapidly urbanizing country and the air pollution is been one of today’s major problems.  It has a negative impact on various environmental aspects which directly or indirectly affect the quality of human health. In the present context, there is rapid urbanization and various infrastructure development projects are being carried out in Nepal. Exposures to some harmful chemicals in the environment may contribute to an individual’s risk of developing cancer. There are also rampant cases of respiratory illness, allergies, infections and heart diseases in the city at present due to high pollution.

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Current Condition or Trend

The WHO Health Organization’s (WHO) latest study shows that the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in our neighboring country India—Kanpur, Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur and one of them lies in central Africa-Cameroon. In this study, Nepal has been ranked 176^th according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2018 report. The ranking puts Nepal in the bottom section for environmental performance out of 180 countries.

How Does DEMP Address This?

In this context, the Danda Ecological Monitoring Program plays a crucial role because it protects public health and the quality of life by investigating, preventing and reducing impacts that may result from exposures to chemical contaminants in the environment. Through research, data collection and data analysis, health risk assessment and health education the public should be kept aware of human health risks associated with exposure to toxic chemicals. This will help in policy making and/or strengthening of existing environmental policies. Therefore, the interface between science and policy are both required to address the environmental issues and reduce the effects of pollutants.