Health and Family Welfare Minister AFM Ruhul Haque yesterday said around 57,000 people die every year due to tobacco-related diseases in the country, while around 382,000 people are becoming physically or mentally disabled as a result of tobacco use.
Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, one that strikes the poor disproportionately. Up to one-third of children living in inner-city public housing have allergic asthma, in which a specific allergen sets off a cascade of events that cause characteristic inflammation, airway constriction and wheezing.
Patients of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and those with damaged lungs have good news. A new effective drug is in the offing for curing lungs damaged by pollution and smoking. Presently, the drug is under animal trial and soon the human trial phase will be undertaken.
Central Pollution Control Board has been entrusted with the responsibility of preparation of nation-wide plans for control of air pollution under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. For rational planning of pollution control strategies, scientific information is needed on nature, magnitude and adverse health effects of air pollution.
Under the provision of Air Act, 1981, Central Pollution Control Board has been entrusted with the responsibility of preparation of nation-wide plan for control of air pollution. Information on nature, magnitude and adverse health effects of air pollution is required for rational planning of pollution control strategies.
A two-day international conference on lung diseases begins at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka today. Bangladesh Lung Foundation organises the conference with the aim to introduce latest treatment facilities to the physicians and initiate an interaction between renowned pulmologists with young ones. Pulmologists from USA, Europe, Australia and Asia will present their research papers in the conference, said the organisers at a news conference at a city hotel on Tuesday.
