Child health expert warns :

Colombo’s air pollution, cause of wheezing in children

Prof. Manouri Senanayake

Air pollution in Colombo city has become so bad that it is triggering or aggravating wheezing in children, top child health expert Professor Manouri Senanayake warned yesterday. Delivering the 26th Susan George Pulimoood Oration at Visakha Vidyalaya on Friday evening, Professor Senanayake, Senior Professor in Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, pointed out that research data had linked city traffic pollutants and wheezing episodes.

Professor Senanayake, currently on her sabbatical as a consultant paediatrician in the UK, spoke on the topic ‘Safeguarding Children and Childhood from Today’s Environmental Hazards’, highlighting her own research and also discussing lessons to be learnt from experiences of First World countries.

Raising the problem of with air pollution and the increase of wheezing in childhood in the country, she presented research data that established a link between traffic pollutants and wheezy episodes.

According to Prof. Senanayake, the air in Colombo has reached a level where it is either triggering or aggravating wheezing in children. Furthermore, indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air, she said. In addition to discussing increasing urban noise levels and its effects on young children, she also warned that research had found that spices, as they are packaged today, were a potential source of lead poisoning. Her Oration also touched on the effects of psycho-social factors and mental well-being among children and young persons. She emphasized the importance of providing security and stability especially in the first three years of life, when parents were the primary environment of a child.

She also discussed the impact of excessive screen time and over-use of digital technology on child development. The Oration is annually delivered as a tribute to Visakha Visdyalaya’s one-time Principal, Mrs. Pulimood . This event was organized by the Susan George Pulimood Educational Trust, chaired by Mrs. Sandamalee Avuruppola, the School’s Principal.