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The impact of Indonesian forest fires on Singaporean pollution and health

The impact of Indonesian forest fires on Singaporean pollution and health

The impact of Indonesian forest fires on Singaporean pollution and health

2017

Sheldon, Tamara L.
Sankaran, Chandini

Collection	Public Health & Healthcare
Author/Creator	Sheldon, Tamara L. Sankaran, Chandini
Title	The impact of Indonesian forest fires on Singaporean pollution and health
Source Title	American Economic Review
Publication Date	2017
Subject	Forest fires -- Indonesia Burning of land -- Indonesia Smaze -- Health aspects -- Singapore Air -- Pollution -- Health aspects -- Singapore Community health services -- Singapore
Page	526-529
Language	English
URI	http://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44250454
Content Type	Journal Article
Object Type	Text
Terms of Use	openAccess
Repository	NUS Libraries
Volume	107
Issue	5
Description	Forest burning in Indonesia results in severe episodes of “seasonal haze” in neighboring Singapore. We offer the first causal analysis of the transboundary health effects of the Indonesian forest burning. Instrumenting for air pollution with satellite fire data, we estimate the impacts of the Indonesian fires on Singaporean polyclinic attendance for acute upper respiratory tract infections and acute conjunctivitis. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the Indonesian fire radiative power increases Singaporean pollution by 1.4 standard deviations and causes a 0.7 standard deviation increase in polyclinic attendance for each of the illnesses examined in this paper.;Between 1990 and 2015, Indonesia lost nearly 25 percent of its forests, largely due to intentional burning to clear land for cultivation of palm oil and timber plantations.1 The neighboring "victim countries" experienced severe deteriorations in air quality as a result of these fires. For example, Singapore experienced record air pollution levels in June of 2013 and again in September of 2015 as a result of the Indonesian forest fires.2 This air pollution is associated with increased incidences of upper respiratory tract infections, acute conjunctivitis, lung disease, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and pneumonia, among other ailments.2 Quantifying the impact of air pollution on health outcomes is challenging because pollution levels are often nonrandom for a variety of reasons, including policy endogeneity and sorting (Dominici, Greenstone, and Sunstein 2014). In this paper we offer the first causal analysis of the transboundary health effects of the Indonesian forest burning. The Indonesian fires induce exogenous variation in Singaporean air quality. We take advantage of this by using satellite fire data to instrument for changes in Singaporean air quality. Since Singapore is only 277.6 square miles in area (two-thirds the size of New York City), air pollution resulting from the fires is homogeneously spread so that sorting is less likely to be an issue. Using a two-stage least squares approach, we find that from 2010 through mid-2016, the Indonesian fires caused a statistically significant increase in pollution levels in Singapore. Our study also provides evidence that polyclinic attendances for acute respiratory tract infections and acute conjunctivitis in Singapore increased as a result of the deterioration in air quality. The reduced form estimates show that a one standard deviation increase in our measure of fires causes a 0.7 standard deviation increase in polyclinic attendances for each of these illnesses. These findings provide causal evidence of the transboundary pollution and health impacts of the Indonesian forest burning on neighboring Singapore.

Women’s health in medical settings

Women’s health in medical settings

Women’s health in medical settings

2021

Wong, Phyllis

Collection	Public Health & Healthcare
Author/Creator	Wong, Phyllis
Editor	Lee, Geok Ling Goh, Soon Noi
Title	Women’s health in medical settings
Source Title	Medical social work in Singapore: context and practice
Publication Date	2021
Publisher	Singapore: World Scientific
DOI	https://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1142/9789811227493_0005
Subject	Women -- Health and hygiene -- Singapore Reproductive health -- Singapore
Page	85-105
Language	English
Content Type	Book Chapter
Object Type	Text
Terms of Use	restrictedAccess
Repository	NUS Libraries
Abstract	The following sections are included: Introduction; Definition of Women’s Health; Theoretical Approaches to Women’s Health; Sexuality and Women’s Health; Sexual Violence; Marital Rape; Abortion in Singapore; Reproductive Health; Conclusion; References