Characterization of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide from urban and rural school environment in kelantan and their affiliation with students health

The aim of this study is to determine urban development and rural area affecting the human health. In this study, three criteria pollutants listed by Department of Environment Malaysia (DOE) had been selected, which were sulphur dioxides(SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon monoxide (CO). In addition, this study had been focused on two areas which are Kota Bharu (SMK Kubang Kerian 1) and Jeli (SK Batu Melintang). Triangulation method was adopted to achieve an understanding of respondent’s health level and air quality indicator. This method adopted in this research to combine information about human health and air quality drawn from in-depth data gathered from a wider range of participants by a questionnaire session. Respondents were selected from each of the urban and rural school proximity area, using a stratified random sampling procedure. The Dräger X-am 5000 used to obtain the data for gases concentration in the school. The result showed that the concentration of gases which were SOx2, NO2 and CO of school in urban area was higher than school in rural area. Rural school area had lower values of SO2 concentration which was 0.042 ppm compared to the urban school area that had mean value of 0.058 ppm. Value of NO2 concentration recorded in the sampling stations showed that the urban school area had higher values of NO2 which was 0.067 ppm compared to the rural school area that had mean NO2 value of 0.041 ppm. Concentration of the CO in urban school area found more polluted (6.389 ppm/6.098ppm) compared to the rural area (4.543 ppm/4.564 ppm). In this study also it can be concluded that the student in urban school area experience greater health effects than student in rural school area. Health performance of student from rural school area was better than school children living in high pollution urban area. But, all the values were not exceeded the Recommended Malaysia Air Quality Guidelines (RMAQG) prescribed by Department of Environment (DOE) for residential and rural residential areas. Improvement was required on air quality on urban and rural school areas so that a better environment can be enhanced.