Risk of acute respiratory infection from crop burning in India: estimating disease burden and economic welfare from satellite and national health survey data for 250 000 persons

Burning of agricultural crop residue to clear fields is a major contributor to air pollution. When rice farmers in northwestern India burn their fields, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in Delhi, the highly populated capital city
located downwind of burning areas, spike to about 20 times beyond the World Health Organization’s threshold for
safe air.
Results of this study suggest that living in areas where crop burning is intense—measured using daily satellite imaging data over a 5-month period—is associated with a 3-fold higher risk of acute respiratory infection—one of the leading global causes of lost disability-adjusted life years. Children are particularly susceptible to the health effects of crop burning.
Solutions to eliminate crop burning exist but require further investments. Authors found that crop-burning abatement
would be highly cost-effective and, in northern India, would avert disability-adjusted life years equivalent to
US$1.529 billion over a 5-year period.