P-au-P air can make you sick. Here are the risk areas.

The concentration of harmful particles in the air of the metropolitan region far exceeds the thresholds considered acceptable by the World Health Organization, according to studies consulted by AyiboPost

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Smoke from motor vehicles, mostly in poor conditionindustries, open-air burning of rubbish and dust dump pollutants and particles into the air of Port-au-Prince that far exceed the thresholds recommended by the World Health Organization, according to two studies from the State University of Haiti (UEH) consulted by AyiboPost.

The air in areas like Poste Marchand, Canapé-Vert or Bourdon contains twice as much nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as the 24-hour average of 25 µg/m3 (microgram per cubic meter) set by the WHO, based on ongoing scientific work from the Environmental Sciences Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) of the UEH.

Nitrogen dioxide is associated with respiratory illnesses like asthma.

The excess concentrations of this gas for the aforementioned zones are respectively 53 µg/m3, 50 µg/m3 and 50 µg/m3.

In the surroundings of the Sylvio Cator stadium, the concentration of fine particles (PM10) is 130 µg/m3, approximately three times higher than the WHO threshold of 45 µg/m3.

It should be noted that fine particles suspended in the air (“particle matter”, PM) are so tiny that they can easily penetrate the respiratory tract.

These microparticles, categorized as carcinogenic by the WHO, can lodge in the lung and penetrate the blood, thereby increasing the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, etc.

Air quality is also poor on rue Mgr Guilloux, in the vicinity of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti (HUEH).

At this location, the air contains a carbon monoxide (CO) content estimated at 5000 µg/m3.

These microparticles, categorized as carcinogenic by the WHO, can lodge in the lung and penetrate the blood, thereby increasing the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, etc.

Toxic and dangerous, carbon monoxide in the area greatly exceeds the proportions of 4000 µg/m3 over 24 hours recommended by the WHO.

For fine particles (PM 10, PM 2.5), they are respectively 105 µg/m3 and 17 µg/m3.

The situation is worrying in certain places in Delmas.

From January to September 2020, four sites in the municipality — Glue Bar and Grill in Delmas 65, National Building and Public Works Laboratory (LNBTP) in Delmas 33, Siloé and National Industrial Parks Company (SONAPI) — were investigated by the Energy and Alternative Technologies Research Unit (URETA) of the Faculty of Sciences (FDS) of the UEH.

At Glue Bar and Grill, the carbon monoxide content was 677.22 μg/m3, then at LNBTP, Siloe and SONAPI, it was respectively 647.93 μg/m3, 545.54 μg/m3 and 486.85 μg/m3.

It should be noted that the Ministry of the Environment is located within the site of the National Company of Industrial Parks (SONAPI) where the increase in these pollutants was observed.

It should be remembered that the WHO recommends 4 µg/m3 as maximum exposure for 24 hours.

Contrary to the 25 μg/m3 over 24 hours recommended by the WHO, nitrogen dioxide showed a dizzying increase at the Glue Bar and Grill with 106.19 μg/m3 and 561.88 μg/m3 at the LNBTP.

For chemist and UEH teacher Yvens Chérémond, “these studies show that we are facing pollution that is quite silent, sneaky, and can kill people.”

According to the researcher who co-directed the FDS study, we must “raise awareness among the population, set up an observatory that will monitor air quality in order to have more data and warn people in real time in relation to danger.

The use of diesel engines in most sampling areas can help explain the dangerous concentrations.

For Dieuseul Prédélus, specialist in atomic and molecular physics, teacher-researcher at the École Normale Supérieure of the UEH, if the concentrations of pollutants greatly exceed the recommended thresholds “it is because we live in an extremely polluted environment.”

4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019 were due to pollution, according to the WHO.

There are no systematic estimates for Haiti, but the confluence of aggravating factors, due to poor nutrition, pollution and insecurity, generates various public health problems in the country.

“This issue of air pollution is not addressed at the level of the Ministry of the Environment,” notes Evans Louis, director of the living environment and sanitation department at the ministry.

In Haiti, when we talk about the environment, we see at first glance: waste management and reforestation. “This perception is even found within the Ministry of the Environment,” regrets Evans Louis.

On October 23, 2018, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) donated three polluters to the Living Environment and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of the Environment. An initiative estimated at an amount of 5,000 US dollars.

The project consisted of installing these devices in three departments: the West, the North and the South.

But, since the end of the mission of the WHO water and sanitation advisor, Julio Urruela Roquero, who led this partnership, no follow-up has been given to the initiative.

According to the pulmonologist, internist and head of the Sanatorium hospital in Port-au-Prince, Jean Ardrouin Esther Louis Charles, the pollutants mentioned by the UEH studies can cause “skin lesions, rhinitis which causes inflammation nasal passages, redness in the eyes, chronic bronchitis, asthma, and even cases of lung cancer.

Read also: Gallons of water stored in the sun, a health hazard in Haiti

The doctor in charge of the department of internal medicine at HUEH, Kelly Celestin, explains to AyiboPost that “these pathologies are very common at the institution level. »

Par Jérôme Wendy Norestyl

Cover image: Open-air rubbish dumping and combustion center in Port-au-Prince

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