VietNamNet Bridge – The PM dust content in Hanoi sometimes reaches up to 90-105 micrograms/m3 while the average concentration is 60 micrograms/m3, 6 times higher than recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

At the workshop on air quality management in Vietnam held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment recently, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thu, environmental officer of the World Bank, said that along with the economic development process, air pollution in Vietnam is rising, especially in Hanoi and provinces in the Red river delta.

More than 30,000 Vietnamese die every year related to air pollution, according to a recent study.

According to the National Environmental Status Report for 2011-2015, in big cities or urban areas with strong industrial activities such as Viet Tri (Phu Tho province), dust pollution tends to remain high, especially at main traffic routes.

Monitoring results show that, in the big cities, the number of days with poor air is high and sometimes air pollution has fallen to the hazardous threshold.

Air pollution is one of the causes for the increase of respiratory disease, especially in Hanoi. Studies showed that the resort city of Dalat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has the lowest rate of people with asthma - 1.1 % of the population - while Hanoi has the highest rate of 5.5% of the population.

Thu Ly