Editor’s Note: In this fortnightly column, top doctors share how they deal with their own health challenges, offering readers expert insight grounded in experience. Read more such stories here .

The respiratory system is a great equaliser.

Unless one believes that a life spent indoors, in the confines of purified and conditioned air, is a life of freedom, being free citizens on a shared planet implies sharing air.

The airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus did not discriminate between the rich and poor, privileged and needy, and was terrifying for those who realised that their wealth or status offered them no shield. The same holds true for the quality of air that we breathe, both indoors and outdoors.

This shared reality is what I find fascinating as a pulmonologist. It inspires me to not jus

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