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A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed staggering results on the impact of pollution on global health. The WHO statistics on air pollution suggest that nearly 1.8 billion children worldwide breathe a potentially deadly polluted air every day. These results demonstrate that there is still much to be done to combat air pollution in the world.
On Monday, the WHO issued a press release regarding its latest report, devoted to air pollution and child health. Summarizing the findings of the report, the press revealed some disturbing statistics:
Every day, about 93% of children worldwide under the age of 15 (1.8 billion children) breathe so polluted air that their health and development are seriously threatened. Many of them die tragically: the WHO estimates that in 2016, 600,000 children died of acute lower respiratory tract infections caused by polluted air.
The press release also noted that children are more likely to be affected by polluted air than adults, which explains the equally significant risks associated with their exposure. As described by WHO, children breathe faster than adults, which means they inhale air pollutants faster. They are also smaller, and because some pollutants are highly concentrated near the ground, children are more exposed to these pollutants.
Finally, as children are still developing, any impact of pollutants could have more serious and lasting consequences. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the level of air pollution risk for children is extremely problematic. "The polluted air poisons millions of children and ruins their lives," he said in a WHO press release. "It is inexcusable.Every child should be able to breathe clean air to develop and flourish fully."
The Guardian have reported that experts working on air pollution issues believe that the WHO report underscores the urgent need to tackle the problem comprehensively. Mark Watts, Executive Director of the C40 Cities Group, which works with cities to fight air pollution, told the newspaper:
Moral and practical arguments in favor of urgent, bold and far-reaching actions to reduce emissions, including the call for the end of the fossil fuel era, are now absolutely irrefutable. Citizens are demanding measures to protect their children … It's time for governments, carmakers and other major polluters to step up.
For its part, WHO is already taking steps to remedy this problem. As the organization has indicated on its website, it is organizing, with several partners, the first-ever Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 29 November 1st. The aim of the conference is to raise awareness of the links between air pollution and health, as well as to "rally the world to major commitments to combat this problem".
The recent WHO report has certainly brought to light the dangerous effects of air pollution, especially on the health of children. Hopefully the awareness generated by this report and other related action initiatives will contribute to the development of robust and fast solutions to reduce air pollution around the world.
