Air Pollution in Vietnam: Causes, Health Effects, and Solutions

1. Introduction
The Air- the environment around us play a huge part in our lives. It supplies oxygen and other gases that are necessary for the survival of human being and plants. The appearance of it is the only thing that would make the Earth different from other dead-planet. However, in the last few years, the technological development has actually led to over-use harmful toxic; the Air now has actually been seriously damaged not just in industrialized countries but likewise in developing countries like Vietnam.

A research study has been brought out by EPI revealed that the air quality in Vietnam is among leading 10 most nation (rank 123rd) (Youthnews 2012). The concentration of dust, fumes and other poison gases in metropolis specifically Hanoi, HCM city ... are at the worrying rate. If there is nothing done about it, Vietnam will soon suffering the effects. This paper is to give the audience a clearer view of air pollution in Vietnam including reasons, impacts and recommending services.

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2. Conversation of finding

2.1 Reasons
2.1.2 Automobile
There are several causes of air contamination; the large majority of them can be associated by guy. Lots of people are unaware of the major issues they expose to the world by letting such hazardous chemical, automobiles smokes ... in to the air. As in the huge cities; one of the primary sources of polluted air is because of motor cars (as much as 70%). The economic growth in the past ten years reflects in the increasing big number of cars. It is undeniable that motorbikes are among the most common transportation in Vietnam.

According to IQ Air paper they represented 95 percents in overall variety of transport. Average, each household owns a motorcycle and at the end of 2010, the variety of motorbike and cars and trucks reached at over 30 millions.

Cars and other vehicles produce air pollution throughout their life because the use of fossil fuel. Imagine, everyday, in the rush hour, millions of motorbikes letting out emission into the air at the same time. The VNS ( 2007 ) has revealed that in rush hour from 5pm to 7 pm the levels of dust is four time higher than normal. That means tons, millions kilograms of gases, fume, C02, N0x would poison the air and could not be able to clean. On the other hand more and more, over a thousand, new motorbikes finish each day. As a result there will be more polluted highways, and roads and more congestion. Another striking fact that the World Air Quality Index has indicated Hanoi has the high level of PM2.5 and PM10 which mainly emitted by transports as well as stood at “Unhealthy “stage which shown that everybody living in Hanoi would be affected.

2.1.2 Industrial areas

Industrial also contributes significantly to the pollution especially for areas near the sources. Although industrialization has helped in technological progress and enhance people living standard but the price we have to pay for this is too huge especially to air pollution. There are 256 large industrial sources from North to South and thousands of other small scale factories around them (Wikipedia 2006). Many of these areas contain small factories with the high levels of indoor pollutant. Factories always linked with manufacturing products and require using all kind of materials in the process.

These components after being disposed have to be removed out of the factories. Each years, they released ton of toxic chemicals namely nitrogen dioxide, methane … to the air throughout the chimneys. According to regular statistical investigations. in Vietnam each year there are 30,000 tons of wastes mainly industrial waste and domestic garbage as well as chemical one (Vietnamnet 2013) . Surprisingly that, industrial wastes mostly generated from industrial parks in the northern and southern areas account for 80%. It is said that 50% to 70 % of this wastes can be recycled to make up new energy but actually only 10% of them has been reuse. These amount wastes of waste continue to pollute the environment.

2.2 Health effects

Health impact of air pollution depends on the pollutant type, its concentration in the air, length of exposure, other pollutants in the air, and individual susceptibility. Different people are affected by air pollution in different ways. Generally, for young people who in a good state of health, the impacts of air pollution in a short term would not be a serious problem. But a long term access to polluted air can lead to serious symptoms mainly related to lung cancer and cardiovascular systems (heart function and blood circulation) as well as skin and eyes diseases. Dr Nguyen Xuan Nghiem of the National Hospital for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease said that their facilities were not meeting the demand of patients. He also claimed that the reason is a fall in air quality (VNS 2007). PM 10 which is defined as a collection of very small liquid , solid in the air mostly come from human activity such as burning coal , fossil fuel ..Breathing the air having a high concentration of it can massively damaged your inner organs including strokes brain, low level of oxygen in blood, increase heart rate, asthma.

It is announced that 900 deaths each year in New Zealand due to PM 10. The problem is according to an environmental project , Hanoi and HCM city have the amount of it over 20 times to the rule set by WHO ( VNS 2007 ). A research by the Minister of Health indicated that in each 100000 people, 4,100 (4, 1%) has lung cancer and 3,800 has to deal with throats and tonsils problems (Vietnamnet Bridge) However the most vulnerable groups are children, pregnant women, the elderly or housewives who are use biomass fuel for cooking. A research carry Southern California Children’s Health (2013) in over 1000 children between the periods of 10 to 18 year old has shown that those living in the polluted area must deal with a higher risk of underdeveloped lungs. Their lungs only worked as 80% of a normal child that age and might never be fully recover. A further study by Environmental Health Perspectives (2014) indicates that the chances of getting high blood sugar would be twice for pregnant one. High blood sugar during pregnancy might lead to unpredictable consequences for both mother and the baby such as preterm birth and obesity... Researchers produced a test in 2000 women in Boston and find out that the chief culprit is PM 2.5 near their living areas.

3. Conclusion

From all the findings above, it is obvious that Vietnam air quality is witnessed a decrease in The past 10 years to now. The level of pollution increase day by day due to the enormous number of transportation and the activities related to industrial areas. This circumstance leads to many impacts as well as deadly diseases on citizen’s health. The government , recently, has been trying to increase their role by indicating some projects to enhance the air quality including building air quality monitoring stations near polluted areas ( VNS 2012 ) in the period of 2016-2020 and 3R ( reduce , reuse , recycle ) . Waste management will help to limited the environment pollution and free a large land areas using for dumping garbage. Since 2005, Vietnam has enforced the Euro 2 ration for vehicles ‘emission (Pham Oanh 2013).

The Prime Minister also delivered a law to controlling the amount of automobiles and cars in cities and province zones. Furthermore, they should improve the public transport to encourage people using them. As a result, fewer motors and cars will reduce the amount of emission. For citizens to protect yourselves and the Air here are some suggestions. For example, when you stop at the red light more than 20 seconds, turn off the engine. It is also recommend wearing mask and glasses to prevent dust and other harmful gases. We all have a responsibility to make sure that we use better practices to deal with air pollution. If there are not any actions taken seriously our lives and our next generation will be greatly threatened. Hopefully in the near future, our air will become fresher and Vietnam economy would continue to be one of Asia’s dragons without hurting the environment.