Villagers of Bjemina, approximately 25 km from Thimphu, are hoping their health and harvest will improve with the dzongkhag yargay tshogdu (DYT) having discussed the issue of air pollution and crop damage caused by the dust from stone crushing machines in the area.

*Not only are levels of Suspended Particulate Matter above permissible limits in Mumbai, but the worst pollutant after vehicular emissions has grown at an alarming rate. *Construction work among main causes; respiratory diseases are on the rise, say doctors Despite all the efforts to reign in pollution in the financial capital, data collected by a slew of mobile air quality monitoring vans across the city have some alarming news: The levels of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM), or dust, in Mumbai's air have continued to increase over the past three years.

Experts on Sunday said that the disease of asthma had turned into an alarming condition as about 10 per cent of children in Pakistan were suffering from this disorder, while 5 to 10 per cent of the adult population in the country was suffering from this condition.

Health professionals stressing the need for structural reforms in the health care system of Pakistan called for a basic policy shift from treatment and cure-oriented system to the adoption of a prevention-based approach. They were speaking at an inaugural-cum-plenary session of the 45th annual medical symposium of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) held here on Monday. This year's theme of the moot is "Health for the underprivileged'. The health experts also explicitly discussed the co-relation between poverty and health.