Being one of the non-attainment cities concerning ambient air quality under the National Clean Air Programme, Patna’s deteriorating air quality has been a cause of national concern. According to the AQLI, residents of Patna could live about 7.7 years longer if World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines were met. Way back in 1998, the gain in life expectancy by meeting the same air quality standards was four years. This, along with other insightful details, was shared in a workshop organized by the Center for Environment and Energy Development and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC-India) in Patna on 28^th September 2019.

The workshop, meant to raise awareness about the impact of pollution on human health, was attended by more than 60 experts comprising environmentalists, doctors, and policy makers among others.

Sharing his insights on the impact of air pollution on human health, Dr. Neeraj Agarwal, Dean AIIMS(Patna) said, “The health impacts of breathing toxic air are increasingly showing up in our hospitals and clinics. The increased patient flow of cases of respiratory illness certainly has links to the worsening air quality in our cities. Earlier, we got patients who were smokers or passive smokers but nowadays, we get patients who haven’t smoked in their entire life and are suffering from life-threatening diseases like lung cancer.”

Talking about how residents can play an active role in curbing air pollution, Santosh Singh, Editor-Indian Express said, “Quantifying the health impact into loss of life years will only make this conversation more objective but it’s only active citizen engagement that can take it to the next level. Otherwise, it shall remain a matter of academic and media discourse.”

Taking a cue from that, Dr. Prashant, Assistant Professor-Environmental Science, Central University added, “It is interesting that there are now publicly available tools like that of AQLI that citizens and policymakers can use to make pollution a subject of popular discourse.”