Mangaluru, Aug 11: City based environmental NGO Anti-Pollution Drive (APDF) Foundation was invited by Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai to make a presentation about their health impact study on the outdoor workers of Mangaluru and Bengaluru. The report was presented during the National Seminar for Clean Air organized by TISS in association with Centre for Environmental Health & Public Health Foundation of India.
Dr. Melanie Rodrigues, scientist in regenerative medicine at Stanford University who also is board member of APD Foundation, represented the foundation and explained the project to the seminar faculty and student-delegates. The main objective of the seminar was to raise a discussion on the right to clean air in urban setting focusing on the rights of some of the most vulnerable communities. The other panelists invited to the seminar were the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai Traffic Police; Joint Director, Mumbai Pollution Control Board and others.
Titled ‘Shuddha Gali’, the project was a pioneering research undertaken by APDF to collect scientific data on the impact of air pollution on outdoor workers such as street vendors, traffic policemen and auto drivers. APDF completed 3 phases of this project in Mangalore and has completed one phase in Bangalore. The research brought Mangalore its first data on the impact of air pollution on the health of outdoor workers. Under the project it was shown that 26% of the traffic policemen (2016), 19% of auto rickshaw drivers (2017) and 35% of street vendors (2018) were affected by air pollution.
After listening to APDF’s presentation, other organization representative who were present showed keen interest to replicate APDF’s health research projects in Tier 2 & 3 cities of Maharashtra.
Dr Melanie Rodrigues, who has about forty scientific publications in reputed international journals to her credit, has undertaken compile and consolidate all the studies under APDF into a comprehensive report for publishing in reputed peer reviewed scientific journals.
Anti-Pollution Drive (APD) Foundation is a not-for-profit organization which was founded on 2nd October 2014 to coincide with the Swachh Bharath initiative launched by. APD is driven to work towards achieving clean sanitized environment and unpolluted air for the citizens and works closely with various Government and Private agencies across the country.
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