AMCostaRica©
| ARCHIVE | Published Thursday, November 1, 2018 |
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How air pollution is destroying our health |
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 By A.M. Costa Rica
staff
As the world gets hotter and more crowded, our engines continue to pump out dirty emissions, and half the world has no access to clean fuels or technologies (e.g. stoves, lamps), the very air we breathe is growing dangerously polluted: nine out of ten people now breathe polluted air, which kills 7 million people every year. The health effects of air pollution are serious – one third of deaths from stroke, lung cancer and heart disease are due to air pollution. This is an equivalent effect to that of smoking tobacco, and much higher than, say, the effects of eating too much salt. Air pollution is hard to escape, no matter how rich an area you live in. It is all around us. Microscopic pollutants in the air can slip past our body’s defenses, penetrating deep into our respiratory and circulatory system, damaging our lungs, heart and brain. The lack of visible smog is no indication that the air is healthy. Across the world, both cities and villages are seeing toxic pollutants in the air exceed the average annual values recommended by WHO’s air quality guidelines. To help people better understand just how polluted the air is where they live, the WHO, UN Environment and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Breathe Life campaign developed an online pollution meter. This year, WHO and partners are convening the first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Geneva on 29 October – 1 November to rally the world towards major commitments to fight this problem. The conference will raise awareness of this growing public health challenge and share information and tools on the health risks of air pollution and its interventions. This conference will showcase some of WHO’s work on air pollution, including the findings of its Global Platform on Air Quality and Health. This platform whose diverse membership includes researchers, civil society, UN agencies and other partner institutions reviews the data on air quality and health. For example, the platform is working on techniques to more accurately attribute air pollution coming from different sources of pollution. It is also working on improving estimates of air quality by combining the data from various air quality monitoring networks, atmospheric modelling and satellite remote sensing. There are two main types of air pollution: ambient air pollution (outdoor pollution) and household (or indoor) air pollution refers to pollution generated by household combustion of fuels (caused by burning fuel such as coal, wood or kerosene) using open fires or basic stoves in poorly ventilated spaces. Both indoor and outdoor air pollution can contribute to each other, as air moves from inside buildings to the outside, and vice versa. Household air pollution kills 4 million people a year and tends to affect countries in Africa and Asia, where polluting fuels and technologies are used every day particularly at home for cooking, heating and lighting. Women and children, who tend to spend more time indoors, are affected the most. The main pollutants: are (1) particulate matter, a mix of solid and liquid droplets arising mainly from fuel combustion and road traffic; (2) nitrogen dioxide from road traffic or indoor gas cookers; (3) sulfur dioxide from burning fossil fuels; and (4) ozone at ground level, caused by the reaction of sunlight with pollutants from vehicle emissions. The pollutant that affects people the most is particulate matter (often abbreviated to PM and used as a measure for air pollution). While particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less, (≤ PM10) can penetrate and lodge deep inside the lungs, the even more health-damaging particles are those with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less, (≤ PM2.5). These particles are so small that 60 of them make up the width of a human hair. PM2.5 can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the blood system. They can increase the risk of heart and respiratory diseases, as well as lung cancer. Ozone is a major factor in causing asthma (or making it worse), and nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide can also cause asthma, bronchial symptoms, lung inflammation and reduced lung function. So how polluted can air be before it starts to affect our health? WHO guidelines say the maximum safe level is an annual average concentration of 10 μg/m3 or less. To encourage cities to reduce air pollution, even if they are unable to meet the ideal safe levels, WHO has set three interim targets for cities. These are: 15 μg/m3 (interim target 3); 25 μg/m3 (interim target 2); 35 μg/m3 (interim target 1). Many cities are now exceeding the very upper level of interim target 1. |
 A.M. Costa Rica
wire services photo
This month, the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change warned that coal-fired
electricity must end by 2050 if we
are to limit global warming rises to
1.5 C
Air pollution has a disastrous effect on children. Worldwide, up to 14 percent of children aged 5 – 18 years have asthma relating to factors including air pollution. Every year, 543 000 children younger than 5 years die from respiratory disease linked to air pollution. Air pollution is also linked to childhood cancers. Pregnant women are exposed to air pollution; it can affect fetal brain growth. Air pollution is also linked to cognitive impairment in both children and adults. As well as affecting our health, pollutants in the air are also causing long-term environmental damage by driving climate change, itself a major threat to health and well-being. This month, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that coal-fired electricity must end by 2050 if we are to limit global warming rises to 1.5 C. If not, we may see a major climate crisis in just 20 years. The conference this week will call for urgent action, seeking agreement on a target for reducing deaths from air pollution. WHO and partners such as UN Environment are developing ways to support countries. For example, WHO is developing a toolkit (the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit, CHEST) to help countries implement WHO’s recommendations on household fuel combustion and to develop policies to expand clean household energy use. Breathe Life – a global campaign for clean air, headed by WHO, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and UN Environment – is mobilizing communities to reduce the impact of air pollution in cities, regions and countries, currently reaching around 97 million people. Clean air interventions will be a focus of the conference. Affordable strategies exist to reduce emissions from energy, transport, waste management, housing and industrial sectors. These interventions often carry other benefits like reduced traffic and noise, increased physical activity and better land use – all of which contribute to improving health and well-being. The conference will present activities and results from the ongoing work of the WHO’s Urban Health Initiative focused on supporting cities with the data, tools and capacity to select, implement and track ‘clean and healthy’ policies at the city level. Better air quality will benefit all of us, everywhere. Specialist advice 5 ways to limit breathing polluted air: 1. Limit walking on busy streets during rush hour – and if you have a young child with you, try and lift them up above the level of vehicle exhausts. 2. Limit spending time at specific hotspots of traffic such as cars stopped at traffic lights. 3. When you’re doing physical activity outdoors, try exercising in less polluted areas. 4. Limit the use of cars in highly polluted days. 5. Don’t burn waste as the smoke that results damages our health. Click here to know more about First WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health. |
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Fourth news page |
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Specialists call for preventing adolescent suicides |
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By
A.M. Costa Rica staff
According to Social Security statistics, in Costa Rica there are an average of 318 cases of suicide every year and cases of attempted suicide are more frequent, mainly in women. The organization is developing a campaign will be maintained throughout the month of November in cinemas, radio, TV and social networks in order to continue supporting efforts that seek the early detection of suicidal tendencies and detetection in the adolescent population. According to Dr. Marco Diaz, coordinator of the Adolescent Care Program, the issue of suicide is a public health problem that has always been a priority for the institution and should focus on a multi-sectoral approach that allows for greater and more timely attention to suicide, especially in adolescents. "On average, about 318 cases of suicide occur per year and there are more frequent cases of suicide attempts, predominantly in women, and there is an increase in students showing self-inflicted injuries on various parts of their bodies," said Diaz. According to the Emergency Department of the National Psychiatric Hospital, "161 minors were treated with a diagnosis of suicide attempt: 125 women and 36 men, aged between 10 and 16 years." They also treated "27 minors were treated for the same cause, of which 24 were female and three males, from 13 years of age," in the emergency room According to the lawyer Gabriela López, head of the Social Marketing Department, in view of this evidence, the communication campaign, under the motto: ‘Speaking is necessary: Prevent suicide’ is a message of awareness addressed to parents, caregivers and educators of this sector of the population to help them identify the warning signs and protective factors that contribute to the prevention of suicidal risk behaviors. The campaign will be aired throughout the month of November on television, radio, cinemas and social networks. The specialist said that the campaign also seeks to motivate young people at risk, between 13 and 18 years of age, "to approach a trusted adult and communicate their feelings and concerns, as well as promote healthy mental health practices in this sector of the population." These communication efforts seek to motivate the development of preventive strategies and protection factors for the early detection of risk and help the individual contemplating suicide to have a change of mind.
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 A.M. Costa Rica wire services
photo
About 318 cases of suicide occur per year and there are more frequent cases of suicide attempts in women, specialist said According to Dr. Díaz, the development of multiple preventative and treatment approaches through the institutional policies of Mental Health and Adolescents is a key to lowering the suicide rate, especially in adolescents. The policies emphasize emotional development, physical health, education, awareness, and healthy lifestyles, among others, and seek to promote greater awareness of this phenomenon, the need for an opportune approach, but above all, a decrease in the incidence of cases. "These institutional efforts are currently focused on the updating of a protocol for the care and monitoring of minors at risk of suicide and thus, adjust the new knowledge to the needs that arise in a more appropriate way," said Dr. Diaz. This update will prioritize the promotion and execution of joint actions among various agencies involved with the care and management of the adolescent population, with the purpose of achieving greater social participation and containment, through training and the execution of related group work and the strengthening of mental health through culture, sports, and education. Social Security offers mental health care service at the first level of care, through the Interdisciplinary Teams on Mental Health, a modality that focuses on people suffering from mental disorders.
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International
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One in five are no-shows for driving test |
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By A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Transport Ministry is calling on everyone who makes an appointment for a driving test to be present at the time of the test. If that is not possible, the ministry asks that the individual call and cancel the appointment so that another person can take the test at that time. According to the ministry, reminders of the appointments are sent out including text messages, email and cell phone alerts, yet people do not arrive for their tests. According to the organization, from January to September this year, 18 percent of the people with test dates failed to keep their appointments. The spaces canceled by the users can be reassigned to other people who are waiting for an appointment and no valuable time is wasted if people call to cancel. Hugo Jiménez, Director of Road Education, stated that the time and resources misused due to no-shows/no-calls is the equivalent to having "13 test centers closed for about a month and a half." Since 2015, an alert system has been used by the ministry. A user who is registered for the test receives a reminder with the data of his appointment, either by email, voice message to landline or mobile phone three days before the test. The addresses and numbers used are those entered by the user when he registered for the test. The user also has the option of cancelling his test up to 48 hours before it is scheduled. |
 Transport
Ministry
courtesy photo
Reversion of the appointment is made on-line at: https://servicios.educacionvial.go.cr If the test date is cancelled this way, the user can re-enroll at no charge and someone else can take the test date. Additionally, reversion of the appointment is made on-line at: https://servicios.educacionvial.go.cr If the interested party does not have an account in the Road Safety system, he must create it first. The process is fast and free. The officials of the ministry are asking anyone with a test date to be sure to call and cancel if they cannot keep the appointment so that someone else can take advantage of the space. |
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Commerce Chamber expresses concern about strength of the dollar |
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By
A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce announced the position of the members regarding the accelerated depreciation experienced by the colon against the dollar in recent days. "While it is true, this House respects the work of the Central Bank of Costa Rica and its monetary policy, the impact on the Costa Rican economy of the increase in the exchange rate, especially on people with lower incomes, should not be overlooked." said the Chamber. According to the Chamber, "the country is in a vulnerable macroeconomic condition as a result of the critical fiscal situation and the uncertainty that is generated, which directly affects the demand for dollars and, therefore, the price of this currency." The organization considers that the increases in the exchange rate exacerbate the difficult economic situation facing the country by increasing the final price of goods and the loan installments of non-generators of dollars, which is around 70 percent of the credit portfolio. "This situation represents an imminent threat to the working class, who, at some point, decided to assume an economic commitment in dollars, without foreseeing that, at the end of the months, they would have to face this complex fiscal situation that could mean serious consequences such as losses of their goods, jobs, impoverishment or even the closure of their companies," the Chamber said in a press release. |
 A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
photo
The pressure on the exchange rate observed since September is consistent with a lower availability of foreign currency in the Costa Rican market. The Chamber makes
a respectful and urgent call
to the different authorities
to quickly resolve the
country's fiscal problem,
the main trigger for the
increase in the exchange
rate in recent weeks, in
order to avoid affecting the
productive sectors such as
commerce, as well as the
population in general.
Private banks reported the highest rate as Cathay, BCT, Davivienda at ₡629 colones. The Government Banks as Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica registered the dollar at ₡627 colones. |
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More than 10,000 drivers fined for negligent driving |
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By A.M. Costa Rica staff The Ministry of Transport calls on drivers not to put their own lives and the lives of others at risk by driving in a dangerous or negligent way. According to the ministry, there were a total of 10,409 fines, between January and September for drivers who were not wearing their safety belts or who, when they were stopped, were found to have companions who were not wearing their seat belts. The ministry report confirmed that many motorcyclists were fined for not wearing helmet or who used them inappropriately, or who had companions who were not wearing helmet. German Marín, Director of the transit police, confirms that there are 40 fines per day for driving while talking on the telephone. There were 1,136 fines issued between January and September for driving while using a cell phone or carrying something else in their hands. When people are stopped by the officers, they try to minimize their error to avoid the fine: "there are those who say that it is their life and that it is a personal decision not to wear a belt,” said the report According to the traffic police, they will continue to stop drivers who disrespect the traffic law. The ministry reports that, in the nine month period, fines were issued for the following reasons:
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 A.M.
Costa Rica wire services photo
Total of 10,409 fines, between January and September to dangerous or negligent drivers. 2,858
drivers fined without the use of
the safety belt.
1,089 of fines for non-use of the belt for passengers. 3,314 fines for not using the helmet while on a motorcycle. 2.012 fines per passenger of a motorcyclist without helmet. 1,136 fines for driving talking on a cell phone, or using another object in hands. According to the Traffic Law, the fine for these types of offenses is $174. |
