Investigating urban determinants of human health in a non attainment city

Abstract

Air Quality has become a critical issue of concern in many countries of the world such as China, India, Iran, Japan etc. Many metropolitan cities in India like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata are dealing with Air Pollution. Increase in level of pollutants has led to extreme health disorders among people. Different concentrations of pollutants impact different systems and organs of the body. For instance, PM2.5 and PM10 effect the respiratory and pulmonary system, SO2 and NO2 causes irritation of eyes, nose, throat and lead metals lead to renal system damage and effects the fertility in women. According to the Literature Reviews, various urban determinants also hamper the human health. This research, “Investigating Urban Determinants of Human Health in a Non-Attainment city” is an investigatory thesis. The NCT of Delhi has been selected as the study area. It is a Tier 1 city with very poor air quality index. This research focuses on investigating that pollution alone is not responsible for impacting the human health. Various Natural Environment and Built Environment (spatial) factors also hamper the human health. The focus of the research is to find out the relationship between Human Health-Air Pollution and Human Health-Urban Determinants. There are pockets within the city with high pollution levels and large number of people suffering because of its consequences. At the same time, there are pockets with high pollution levels but less number of people suffering because of its outcome. The research identifies the critical areas based on Air Pollution levels by interpolating the data with the ArcGIS software using IDW Method. The generated air pollution maps have been divided into five categories: Fair Pollution Level, Severely Moderate Pollution Level, Moderate Pollution Level, High Pollution Level and Very High Pollution Level. Three hospitals are chosen based on these maps i.e. each from Fair Pollution Level area, Moderate Pollution Level area and Very High Pollution Level area. The Primary study is undertaken on the three hospitals and information like spatial location, age, gender and number of patients has been gathered. The hospital from High Pollution area is Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in East Delhi district. Following this, is Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in West Delhi district which has Moderate Pollution Level and All India Investigating Urban Determinants of Human Health in a Non-Attainment City Institute of Medical Sciences from South Delhi district which has Low Air pollution level. The data from the hospitals only comprises of patients suffering from Respiratory Diseases due to PM2.5, which are the primary pollutants of NCT of Delhi. Based on hospital admission rates and Air Pollution maps generated, 4 pilot areas are selected based on 1. High Pollution-High Admission Rates Area 2. High Pollution-Low Admission Rates Area 3. Low Pollution-High Admission Rates Area and 4. Low Pollution-Low Admission Rates Area. The pilot areas are Pitampura, Patparganj, R.K.Puram and Karol Bagh respectively. The Correlation and Regression statistical analysis proves that a relationship does exists between Human Health, PM2.5 and Urban Determinants. Through this it can be concluded that Air Pollution is not the only determinant that affects human health but there are various other determinants that also affect human health. Lastly, based on the analysis, the research suggests a framework, suitable strategies, recommendations and proposals to the urban determinants that would lead to betterment of human health in the context of planning. There are some common Development Policies that can be incorporated at all the places. At the same time, there are some Green Intervention Proposals and Infrastructure Proposals for different areas of the city.