Guwahati, Jan. 6 -- Mohammad Al Masum Molla

Mahmuda Khatun has travelled west from her home in Bangladesh's Narsingdi district to the capital. She is fighting to breathe. The 50-year-old asthma sufferer found herself in Dhaka's National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital following a decline in her condition. "Earlier, her problem worsened only in winter, but in recent years, it deteriorates two to three times in a year," says Mahmuda's son, Ahmed Hossain.

Chronicair pollution is shortening average life expectancyrates in Bangladesh. Rapid urbanisation, unregulated construction and the changing climate are also exacerbating acute respiratory diseases and economic losses.

According to a recentstudyBangladesh has the most pol...