Ćudić: We are seeking official data on how air pollution affects children's health

Sabina Ćudić, a representative of Naša stranka in the Cantonal Assembly, posed a parliamentary question at today's session, calling on the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton and the Institute for Informatics and Statistics of Sarajevo Canton to provide statistics on how many children were recorded this year as receiving therapy for respiratory infections in Sarajevo Canton, writes Patria.

 - In recent days, information has appeared in the media about an increased number of children who, due to respiratory infections, are forced to receive corticosteroid therapy. I think it is very important that we have accurate data on this at this moment, so that we can compare it with statistics from the last five years, so we have asked the Ministry and the Institute to provide us with that data as well, if it exists, Ćudić said.

 - It seems to me that these statistics will be crucially important in concluding how much the high emission of PM10 particles and the generally extreme air pollution in Sarajevo Canton have recently affected the health of our children, and it is certainly in the public interest for them to be published as soon as possible. The first step in creating long-term programs for children's health and disease prevention is the collection of accurate statistical data. Policies of random decisions and unplanned actions, especially when children are concerned – are unacceptable, she added.