In order to study the exposure of asthmatic children to air pollution in nation’s capital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will provide wearable sensors to school going asthmatic children which will monitor the exposure to air pollution, both indoor and outdoor.
"These high-quality sensors will give us data on how much a child is exposed to air pollution while they are in school, travelling, or are at home. This will help us assess its impact on their health," said Dr Karan Madan, Assistant Professor, Pulmonary Department, AIIMS.
According to Dr Madan, these pollution sensors are lightweight, easy to strap around the waist and will generate a comprehensive data on their air pollution exposure throughout the day. In addition to the wearable sensors, a sensor will also be placed at the home of a child and one at the school, he added.
"These belts will provide us with real-time pollution exposure information and will get uploaded on the central information server which is recording the pollution levels," he said further.
In addition to this, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS said that the sensors will be given to a child for a week and if feasible will be given for longer periods.
"It will help us study how the changing levels of pollution impact and affect the health of a child and also establish a connection between the indoor and outdoor pollution," he said.
The screening and enrolment of children for the study has already begun, said Dr Madan.
"It will be a two-way process - we are identifying the children from among those who come our clinic seeking treatment for asthma, and also are identifying schools where we can go and conduct the study, likely to be completed within two years," he said.
The study is being conducted in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College of London, and Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai.
The study is funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Medical Research Centre, the United Kingdom.
Delhi's air quality fell in the 'poor' category Thursday as light showers brought down the pollution level slightly in the national capital, authorities said.
