93% of kids breathe toxic air
You’ll need to take a deep breath before hearing this news — or, maybe not.
An astounding 93% of kids around the world live in environments with air pollution levels that are damaging to their health, according to a new report by the United Nations’ World Health Organization.
And air pollution can be blamed for the deaths of 543,000 kids under age 5 in 2016, with more than one in four deaths of children under 5 being related to environmental issues.
Exposure to air pollution can damage the health of kids in a variety of ways, either causing or being associated with everything from low birth weight to infant mortality, childhood obesity, asthma and even childhood leukemia.
“The enormous toll of disease and death revealed by these new data should result in an urgent call to action for the global community — and especially for those in the health sector,” WHO stated in the report. “Strong action to reduce exposure to air pollution offers an unparalleled opportunity to protect the health of children everywhere.”
The report stressed that health professionals should communicate with families, communities and policy-makers about the serious risks of air pollution exposure.
“Although more rigorous research into how air pollution affects children’s health will continue to be valuable, there is already ample evidence to justify strong, swift action to prevent the damage it clearly produces,” WHO added. “Health professionals must come together to address this threat as a priority, through collective, coordinated efforts. For the millions of children exposed to polluted air every day, there is little time to waste and so much to be gained.”
Disease caused by dirty air is more common in low- and middleincome countries, particularly those in Africa, South-East Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions. Poor countries in these areas have the highest levels of exposure to toxic air at home due to polluting fuels and technologies for basic needs like cooking, heating and lighting.