Adaptive measures implemented through a multisectoral approach

• enhance the capacity of medical practitioners through targeted training to detect and treat air-pollution-driven morbidity. • Institute a mainstream response to deal with mental health issues through the provision of community-based solutions for prevention and treatment.

These can include, for instance, the creation of peer support groups at local community levels. • Training nonspecialists to detect and treat common mental disorders.

Recommendation 2: Strengthen public health response mechanism to promote preventive measures. Community-level screening for specific conditions such as persistent coughs and breathing difficulties among people living in areas with relatively high air pollution levels (“hot spots”) will assist the government in detecting and addressing emerging health issues. The following actions can be considered to achieve this goal:

• establish community-level mobile teams to screen for health risks associated with air pollution. These teams should work in shifts and be available during the evening to cover the population not available during the day. • Prioritize the screening of the elderly and children, who are more susceptible to the effects of air pollution. • Create awareness among the general population about the adverse effects on health due to air pollution through outreach activities using community health workers and volunteers. • Mobilize communities, local leaders, and social influencers to promote preventive actions such as regular use of face masks, which can reduce inhalation of harmful pollutants to an extent. • Identify areas with relatively high air pollution as hot spots where these actions need to be prioritized.

The Ministry of environment, Forest, and Climate Change may be well positioned to lead this multisectoral approach in consultation with stakeholders.

Recommendation 3: Record more granular and localized data with high fidelity to monitor air pollution levels closely. Together with the weather data (on temperature, humidity, and precipitation) collected by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the agencies will be able to provide a fuller picture of the extent of air pollution in Bangladesh. Actions to be implemented are the following:

• Increase the number of continuous air-monitoring stations throughout the country to collect more localized and granular information on the various air pollutants. • Strengthen capacity to capture additional data points using updated technology. geostationary operational environmental satellites-r series and the joint polar satellite system monitor the particle pollution in the atmosphere. These track smoke particles from wildfires, airborne dust during dust- and sandstorms, urban and industrial pollution, and ash from erupting volcanoes (SciJinks n.d.). • Use existing sources of information, coupled with localized ground-level information, to continually monitor the impact of air pollution on human health. Such evidence should be used for decision-making purposes.