84F 2024-2025

84F
Health Husk

Slogan

Intro

Mission

To reduce health hazards from pollution caused by burning rice husks in Vietnam.

As rice is produced and consumed by many people in Vietnam, around 8.8 million tonnes of rice husks are produced yearly, and 90% of the rice husks are burned and discarded by the farmers. The smoke produced from the rice husks often include CO, NOx, and SO2 that affects the cardiovascular system, causing diseases including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and respiratory infections relating to almost 60,000 deaths in Vietnam due to air pollution. In 2023, Hanoi was reported to have a PM2.5 concentration of 43.7 µg/m³ ranking 8th in the world. However, burning rice husks also affects water pollution, as ashes of rice husks contaminate water sources in the environment. Ash-contaminated water causes toxic chemical exposure, and increases cancer risk and other health issues if consumed. Those contaminated water could affect the ecosystem, and if the organisms are consumed as well, it increases other health risks such as respiratory diseases, eye and skin irritation around 9,000 has been reported. This significant increase of pollution in Vietnam can cause more health hazards and increase death rates. Preventing burning rice husks will help decrease the amount of health hazards due to pollution in the future making it both clean and safe for agriculture and communities lives.