Qamar Rahman
Amity University, India
Keynote: J Women’s Health Care
In most of the developing countries women are exposed to outdoor air pollution, indoor air pollution and also occupationally exposed to toxic materials at work. Studies showed that after long-term exposure to airborne particles women has a greater risk of developing fatal coronary heart disease than their male counterparts. Certain health conditions and diseases including menopause, pregnancy, ovarian, cervical cancer, breast cancer, certain autoimmune diseases, endometriosis and osteoporosis occur only in women. India is in accelerated economic development and passing through a transitional phase, leads to an enhanced load on the environment causing decline in air quality, water and soil. Modern environmental risks as urbanization, industrialization, transport expansion, agricultural modernizations and traditional environmental hazards, as indoor air pollution using unprocessed cooking fuel, certain toxic pesticides etc. Every year 2.8 m (1.3 m, in India) people die due to indoor air pollution mostly women. The uses of toxic pesticides increase cases of breast cancer. Organo chlorine found significantly high in breast cancer patients irrespective of age, diet and geographic distribution, cooking using solid fuels, including dung, wood, agricultural residues and cheap variety of coal, are likely to be the largest traditional source of Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) on a global scale. Moreover, besides air and water pollution, over the last decades, tons of man-made chemicals have been produced and released into the environment. Many of these chemical substances have the ability to modulate the action of hormones and are called endocrine disrupters. The mode of exposure and action of endocrine disrupters, their impact on the female reproductive system and the unborn fetus including female hormone concentrations, menstrual cycle, fertility, spontaneous abortion and the development of endometriosis are major health issues. These women are also engaged with different occupations in informal sector. These occupations involve varied work related hazards. These occupational hazards are a consequent risk to health. The presentation deals with exposure of women in different unorganized sectors in India causing asbestosis, silicosis, acute respiratory infection, chronic obstructive lung diseases, lung cancer, tuberculosis, ischemic heart diseases, adverse pregnancy outcome, digestive tract cancer, skin diseases etc. along with issues and suggestions.
Qamar Rahman is a Professor in Amity University and her currently serving as Director and Dean Research at Science and Technology, India. She has worked as the Head of the Department of Amity Science, Amity University, Lucknow, India, where She has developed Advance Research Centre research of chemical and biological aspects of the toxicity of occupational and environmental particulate air pollutants (fibres, particles and nanoparticles).
E-mail: drqamar15@gmail.com
