Adopt cost-effective interventions to combat air pollution.- Samira Bawumia at WHO | General news

Ghana's second lady, Hajia Samira Bawumia called for concerted efforts to design and implement proven and cost-effective interventions to significantly reduce household pollution.

She made this remark about the High Level Group on Energy and Health, at the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), in Geneva, Switzerland. The session was present. Queen Letizia Ortiz, Queen of Spain; and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.

Ms. Bawumia, Global Ambbadador for the Clean Cooking Alliance, noted that air pollution and its effects on health remain a major challenge, particularly in Asia and Africa.

She added that Africa was facing a problem of air pollution in its urban and rural areas, compounded by the lack of air quality monitoring systems in most countries of the world. continent.

"More than 90% of the world's population lives in environments exceeding WHO's air quality limits, resulting in more than seven million preventable and unacceptable deaths a year." nearly three billion people do not have access to clean fuels and technologies, millions of deaths each year due to exposure to household air pollution ".

According to data from the World Meteorological Organization, the first major attempt to calculate the human cost of pollution on the continent suggests that polluted air could kill 712,000 people a year prematurely. 542,000 people living in unhealthy water, 275,000 suffering from malnutrition and unhealthy sanitation ".

"In addition, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, based in Paris, estimated that the annual number of deaths due to ambient air pollution on the African continent had increased by 36% between 1990 and 2013. During the same period, deaths due to household air pollution continued to increase ".

Citing the above-mentioned data, Ms. Bawumia told the panel "that it is important that our conversation establish links between the impact of health and the environment on development and health issues." gender equality ".

She added that women and children were hard hit by the tedious household work and were overloaded by the weather, due to the use of messy cooking fuels with lack of time and a healthier maternal mediocre. become the end results.

"For Africa as a whole, the economic cost of premature deaths from air pollution is estimated at around EUR 215 billion for outdoor air pollution and USD 2 billion for pollution from the air. household air, "Ms. Bawumia said.

According to Ms. Bawumia, the need to combat the impact of air pollution on health and its consequences for sustainable development is a "human-centered problem, therefore a global problem".

Notable panel members included; Dr. Zulema Tomás, Peruvian Minister of Health; Ms. Dymphna van der Lans, CEO of the Clean Cooking Alliance; Mr. Salvatore Vinci, Deputy Director, Country Support and Partnerships Division, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Ms. Isabel Raya, Energy Policy and Partnerships Consultant, Sustainable Development Goals Division, UN-DESA; Ms. Sheila Oparaocha, International Coordinator and Program Manager, ENERGIA and co-convenor of the SDG 7 Technical Advisory Group, among others.