AIIMS to give sensors to school kids to monitor their air pollution exposure

The AIIMS will provide wearable sensors to school-going asthmatic children in the national capital which will consistently monitor their exposure to air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, to facilitate a study in the matter.

Assistant professor in the pulmonology department, AIIMS, Dr Karan Madan said 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.

As a part of the study, being conducted in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College of London, and Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai, these wearable sensors will be given to the children for a week.

"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," Dr Madan said.

He said, "These belts will provide us with a real-time pollution exposure information and will get uploaded on the central information server which is recording the pollution levels."
"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."