According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 235
million people suffer from asthma worldwide, more children than adults. Most people probably know someone with a
chronic respiratory disease, or may suffer from one themselves. Imagine a place where the air quality is so
horrible, people with respiratory illnesses are told to flee the area; scary,
right? Well in February, residents in
Portmore, Jamaica were warned that their city has the worst air quality in the
whole country, mainly because of unregulated garbage dumps and illegal garbage
burning. Doctors were seeing patients
with respiratory illnesses worsen significantly enough to recommend they
relocate, as the air quality was only expected to further deteriorate. The air had a higher than average composition
due to particles both solid and semisolid being released into the
atmosphere. Because the government could
not legally halt facilities that were releasing emissions into the air, residents
with respiratory illnesses either had to relocate or face the situation of
their declining health.
To learn more about the problem in Portmore, visit:
To read more about respiratory diseases see WHO’s cite:
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