[ad_1]
Every day, 93% of children under the age of 15 breathe so polluted air that they endanger their health and development. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports this in a new report
. In its report, WHO has studied the effects of air pollution on the health of children around the world. This shows that about 1.8 billion children breathe a highly polluted air each day. The consequences can be fatal. In 2016, nearly 600,000 children under 15 years old would have died of acute respiratory infections due to air pollution. The vast majority of them are under 5 years old.
"Air pollution hinders the growth of children's brains and affects their health more than we thought," said Maria Neira, Director of Public Health and the Environment from WHO. According to the study, air pollution is one of the biggest threats to children 's health. Around the world, 1 in 10 children under 5 die from severe air pollution.
Highly Vulnerable
One of the reasons young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution is that they breathe faster than adults. so take more pollutants, according to the report. Children are also smaller and live closer to the ground. Here, some substances are the most concentrated. The substances are also very harmful because their brain and their body are still developing.
According to the WHO, children exposed to severe forms of air pollution are at greater risk of contracting chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life. Air pollution can also cause asthma and cancer in the child.
Global Approach
The report will be presented tomorrow at the start of the first World Conference on Air Pollution and Health, organized this week by WHO in Geneva. The organization calls on all countries to act. Countries are meeting to conclude new agreements on the global approach to air pollution.
Source link
