Air Pollution in Iceland and Malaysia

By: Muhammad Fawwas Yusri

Air Pollution In Iceland

In accordance with the World Health Organization's guidelines, the air

quality in Iceland is considered safe. The most recent data indicates the country's
annual mean concentration of PM2.5 is 6 µg/m3, which falls below the
recommended maximum of 10 µg/m3. Air quality in Iceland can be affected by food
processing, aluminium smelting, the tourism industry, and vehicle emissions.
Available data indicates that Reykjavik can experience high levels of air
pollution.Outdoor air pollution is a mix of chemicals, particulate matter, and
biological materials that react with each other to form tiny hazardous particles. It
contributes to breathing problems, chronic diseases, increased hospitalization, and
premature mortality.

The concentration of particulate matter (PM) is a key air quality indicator

since it is the most common air pollutant that affects short term and long term
health. Two sizes of particulate matter are used to analyze air quality; fine particles
with a diameter of less than 2.5 µm or PM2.5 and coarse particles with a diameter
of less than 10 µm or PM10. PM2.5 particles are more concerning because their
small size allows them to travel deeper into the cardiopulmonary system.

The World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines recommend that the annual
mean concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 10 µg/m3 and 20 µg/m3 for
PM10.

Risk
  Cities and rural areas worldwide are affected by air pollution. When planning
a trip, consider health status, age, destination, length of trip and season to
mitigate the effects of air pollution.

Symptoms

 Short term symptoms resulting from exposure to air pollution include itchy
eyes, nose and throat, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain,
headaches, nausea, and upper respiratory infections (bronchitis and
pneumonia).
 It also exacerbates asthma and emphysema.
 Long term effects include lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic
respiratory illness, and developing allergies.
 Air pollution is also associated with heart attacks and strokes.

Prevention

 Comply with air pollution advisories - ask around and observe what locals
are doing and avoid strenuous activities.
 Travellers with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
should carry an inhaler, antibiotic, or oral steroid - consult your doctor to see
what is best for you.
 Older travellers with pre-existing conditions should get a physical exam that
includes a stress and lung capacity test prior to departure.
 Newborns and young children should minimize exposure as much as
possible or consider not travelling to areas with poor air quality.

Air Pollution In Malaysia

There are so many factors that contribute to the polluted air here in
Malaysia. However, the main reason of air pollution here is because of haze. For

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the past years, Indonesia was mostly to be blamed and this was due to the burning
of rainforest in Sumatera in order to open up land for palm oil plantation,
agricultural or commercial purposes. The smoke from this burning has drifts over to
Malaysia and the most affected with the thick haze were Sabah and Sarawak. This
method was said to be a cheaper alternative to open up land. For example in 2015,
this was the year where haze in Malaysia got worst than ever that has forced the
government to declare schools to be closed for few days. In this year, widespread
illnesses has also increased vastly especially to the elders and children.

The air pollution may not solely to be blamed to the forest burning in
Indonesia because local industrial in Malaysia has also contributed to the air
pollution. Economic growth have led to an increasing manufacturing sector and
processing industries continue to grow over the years in Malaysia which leads to a
more factory opening. The smoke released by factories and industries were not
efficiently filtered that has caused the smoke to be hazardous therefore this would
harm the health of the people. Because of this, the people who live nearby would
be badly affected.

A large number of vehicles, poor road conditions and inefficiency of public

transport have also been a huge contribution to air pollution in this country. Most
Malaysians nowadays prefer to use private transport as it is more convenient for
them to get to work, college or anywhere else. This is the reason why the number
of vehicles has increased vastly for the past few years. Especially in Klang Valley,
the air is badly polluted because of the major traffic jams has increased the air
pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds
and ozone.

Vaping and smoking are also contributing factors to air pollution. As of 2015,
it was recorded that atleast 1 in 10 Malaysians are 13 to 17 years olds smokers
and atleast 1 in 2 Malaysians are adult smokers. This huge increasing number of

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smokers in this country has obviously degrades our air quality. The particles
contain in tobacco smoke will settle in the dust or surfaces for atleast few months
and will form to cancer-causing compounds. Same goes to vaping, although the
smell of the smoke may be pleasing, but it produces aerosol clouds containing
chemicals
Undeniably one of the prominent problems our civilized society faces today lies a
global epidemic of air pollution which has negatively affected our global village.

According to the World Health Organisation (W.H.O).air pollution is one of

the greatest contributing factors to a number of international diseases. Statistics
derived from (W.H.O) illustrate and prove that air pollution in low-income families is
at 94 percent. Diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, and recently
diabetes has been added to the list are imperative and are most likely to affect
health on a large scale.

SOURCE

https://www.traveldoctor.network/country/iceland/risk/air-pollution/

https://www.moh.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/192

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