{"id":405378,"date":"2025-04-03T13:35:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T07:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/?p=405378"},"modified":"2025-04-03T13:35:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T07:50:38","slug":"health-ministry-issues-urgent-advisory-as-air-pollution-soars-in-kathmandu-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/2025\/04\/03\/405378.html","title":{"rendered":"Health Ministry issues urgent advisory as air pollution soars in Kathmandu Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-405379 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-1024x636.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-1024x636.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-768x477.jpg 768w, https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-1536x954.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/HRB-KTM-20250403_064831-2048x1272.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-1adg3ll r-1b5gpbm r-a8ghvy\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-a8ghvy\"><strong>April 3, Kathmandu:<\/strong> The Ministry of Health and Population has called on the public to take immediate precautions as air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley reaches alarming levels. In a press release issued on Thursday, the Ministry highlighted Nepal\u2019s recent ranking among the world\u2019s most polluted countries, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-1adg3ll r-1b5gpbm r-a8ghvy\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-a8ghvy\">The AQI classifies air quality as follows: 0\u201350 is &#8220;good,&#8221; 51\u2013100 is &#8220;moderate,&#8221; 101\u2013150 is &#8220;unhealthy for sensitive groups,&#8221; 151\u2013200 is &#8220;unhealthy,&#8221; 201\u2013300 is &#8220;very unhealthy,&#8221; and above 301 is &#8220;hazardous.&#8221; Kathmandu\u2019s current AQI stands at 348, placing it firmly in the &#8220;hazardous&#8221; category. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-1adg3ll r-1b5gpbm r-a8ghvy\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-a8ghvy\">Ministry Spokesperson Dr. Prakash Budhathoki urged vulnerable groups\u2014children, the elderly, pregnant women, and individuals with respiratory conditions\u2014to exercise heightened caution. The Ministry advises the public to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary, wear masks when venturing outside, and avoid heavily polluted areas. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-1adg3ll r-1b5gpbm r-a8ghvy\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-a8ghvy\">The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority attributed the spike in pollution to forest fires, road construction, and industrial activities. It has called on citizens, industries, and construction firms to take proactive steps to curb emissions and safeguard public health. The Authority has also directed relevant agencies to monitor air quality closely and implement urgent measures to mitigate the crisis. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-1adg3ll r-1b5gpbm r-a8ghvy\" dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3 r-a8ghvy\">As air pollution continues to threaten the region, collective action and vigilance remain critical to protecting the population.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 3, Kathmandu: The Ministry of Health and Population has called on the public to take immediate precautions as air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley reaches alarming levels. In a press release issued on Thursday, the Ministry highlighted Nepal\u2019s recent ranking among the world\u2019s most polluted countries, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI). The &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":405379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,8,3,6,4,5],"tags":[],"reporter":[],"class_list":["post-405378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administration","category-en-cover","category-english","category-en-featured","category-en-news","category-top-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405380,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405378\/revisions\/405380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405378"},{"taxonomy":"reporter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radionepalonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reporter?post=405378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}