1. Air Pollution, Poverty and Health in Ho Chi Minh City
Nguyen Dinh Tuan HCMC Environmental Protection Agency
BAQ 2006
Yogyakarta - Indonesia

2. Ho Chi Minh city
Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, the largest city in Vietnam, has more than 6 million people
Northeast of the Mekong river, 910 square miles of flat land.
Mean temperature between the high 80 to high 90 degrees Farenheit

3. Ho Chi Minh city
The urban area occupies 10% of total land and is divided into 19 urban districts and 5 rural districts. The main industries consist of production of sea food, textiles, chemicals, plastics, and building materials, food processing.
There are more than 1,000 large-scale enterprises, and over 30,000 small factories. Rapid economic development has also brought more migrants to the city, contributing to the traffic congestion and urban crowding
There are more than 2.5 millions motorcycles, and 260,000 automobiles. The city has 38 hospitals and clinics, and there are about 9 medical doctors per 100,000 people

4. Ho Chi Minh city

5. Map of air quality monitoring sites in HCMC

6. Air Pollutants

8. Mannual air quality monitoring
Three sites were installed since 1993: Hang Xanh cross road, Dinh Tien Hoang – Dien Bien Phu corner, Phu Lam cross road.
Three sites were installed since 2005: Go Vap cross road, Tan Thuan cross road, An Suong cross road.
Monitoring frequency: 10 days per month.
Monitoring times: Samples were collected in 7 am, 10 am and 3 pm.
Measured variables: CO, TSP, Pb, NO2, noise

9. Urban background air quality (residential areas)

10. Roadside air quality (Automatic)
Annual average PM10 from 2002 to 06/2006 20 40 60 80
100
120
140
Thoáng Nhaát
Bình Chaùnh
ug/m3
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
The annual average PM10 concentration measured at road side- traffic stations have reduced lightly through years

11. Roadside air quality (Automatic)
Annual average CO from 2002 to 06/2006 1 2 3 4 5 6
DOSTE HB
Thoáng Nhaát
Bình Chaùnh
mg/m3
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
The annual average CO concentration measured at road side- traffic stations have increased lightly through years

12. Roadside air quality
The CO concentration measured at the manual air quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 9.4 –16mg/m3 that met the Vietnam Standard. (TCVN 5937 – 1995 CO: 40 mg/m3)

13. Roadside air quality
The TSP concentration measured at the manual air quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 0.45 – 0.96 mg/m3. All the TSP concentration exceeded the Vietnam Standard (300mg/m3).
TSP concentration
( )
0.00
300.00
600.00
900.00
VX HX
ÑTH - ÑBP
VX PL
Ngaõ tö AS
Ngaõ saùu GV
NVL - HTP
ug/m 3
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
7 thaùng ñaàu 2006
TCVN

14. The NO2 concentration measured at manual air quality monitoring sites fluctuated from 0.12 – 0.26 mg/m3. All the NO2 concentration met the Vietnam Standard (400mg/m3).
Roadside air quality

15. Roadside air quality
The Pb concentration measured at manual air quality monitoring sites have reduced remarkable from 06/2001. All the Pb concentration met the Vietnam Standard (5ug/m3).

16. Admissions for Respiratory Illness, HCMC Children’s Hospital 1
cases
year
There was relation between diseases and air pollution
Asthma increased quickly

17. DISTRIBUTION BY AGE - DISEASES RELATED TO AIR POLLUTION%

18. Poverty
District-level poverty status was derived using mid-term census data and data from the longitudinal Vietnam Household and Living Standard Survey (VHLSS), and small-area estimation method

19. Studying Air Pollution, Poverty, and Health in HCMC
Overall Objectives:
Develop feasible approaches to studying air pollution, poverty, and health
Methods appropriate for HCMC context
Methods suitable for use in other cities - promote building an evidence base across Asian cities
Develop infrastructure for future studies of the health effects of air pollution in HCMC
Technical capacity (epidemiologic methods, exposure assessment, analysis)
Resources (data integration, equipment)

20. Proposed Methods Component 1 (C1): Hospital-based study
Estimate the effect of short-term exposure to air pollution on hospital admissions for ALRI in young children (<5 years) in HCMC
Compare the magnitude of the effect of air pollution on poor children vs. other children
Component 2 (C2): Household-based study
Estimate personal exposures to air pollution among the poor and the non-poor
ambient air pollution
other sources (cooking with solid fuels, cottage industries)
Estimate prevalence of respiratory symptoms in HCMC
Survey of perceptions and economic costs
Component 3 (C3): Policy Analysis; Capacity Building; Awareness Building

21. Hypotheses to be tested
H1: the poor experience greater health impacts from ambient air pollution (C1 and C2)
H2: the poor are more exposed to air pollution (C2)
H3: exposures of the poor are more correlated with ambient air pollution (C2)
H4: the poor are more vulnerable to ambient air pollution (C1)

22. Methods development and dissemination
This is the first project of its kind in Asia!
Targeted technical assistance and capacity building will be provided
Necessary infrastructure will be provided (example: equipment for air quality monitoring and analysis)
Collaborators will make presentations at international workshops and conferences (CAI-Asia, technical conferences)
Researchers from other Asian cities will be invited to learn more about the study

23. Motivation and Structure of Collaboration
Vietnam serves as a good model for future studies in similar regions (including capacity building)
HEI & ADB
HCMC Health Department
International Collaborators
HCMC HEPA
HCMC Hospitals
HCMC Bureau
of Statistics
HCMC
DOLISA

24. Interdisciplinary team of collaborators
Organization(s)
Responsibilities
Department of Public Health (DPH)
Local leadership, management, and coordination
Other local collaborating agencies:
CH1, CH2, HEPA, CASE, Bureau of Statistics, DOLISA
Provide retrospective data, assess respiratory health prevalence, exposure monitoring and modeling, environmental sample analysis, administer household survey, assessment of socio-economic position
Health Effects Institute (HEI)
Overall study management and technical assistance (study design, epidemiologic methods, exposure assessment)
International Scientific Oversight Committee (ISOC)
Technical guidance and scientific oversight
External Consultants
Technical assistance (biostatistics)

25. Thank you very much for your attention