Doctors come together to talk about the importance of clean air

To celebrate the First International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on September 7, doctors from various disciplines from across the globe participated in a first-of-its-kind virtual event on September 6, called Doctors for Clean Air Conclave.

The conclave was a full day program focused on "Health Impacts of Air Pollution and the Role of Doctors in Advocating for Clean Air". Seven national medical associations that joined hands to make it happen included the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP), the Cardiological Society of India (CSI), the Indian Chest Society (ICS), the Indian Academy of Neurology (IAN), the Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) and the Medical Students Association of India (MSAI).

The event began with the keynote address given by Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Dept. of Environment, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organisation. This was followed by one hour panel discussions and presentations on the benefits of clean air on pregnant women and newborns (by the FOGSI), children (by the IAP), cardiac health (by the CSI), lung health (by the ICS) and neurological health (by the IAN).

Dr H. Paramesh, a member of the IAP, highlighted the importance of creating awareness about the depleting levels of clean air by stating, "Delhi has gone from having 10 trees per person to now having just one tree per person."

Not even the air within homes is safe, said Dr Alok Gupta during the session that discussed the benefits of clean air on children. "Cooking using biomass and kerosene leads to the open fire in homes becoming a direct pollutant which causes non-communicable diseases, chronic heart diseases and chronic pulmonary and respiratory diseases," he explained.

The conclave was an initiative to bring together doctors from all over the country to try and turn the awareness campaign to attain clean air into a people's movement.