Air pollution is currently the second biggest global risk factor for early death, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, and it is having an increasingly negative effect on people’s health.
The State of Global Air (SoGA) report, which was released in collaboration with UNICEF, detailed the devastating and expanding effects of air pollution worldwide.
According to the Health Effects Institute’s (HEI) fifth edition of the research, 8.1 million fatalities worldwide in 2021 were attributed to air pollution, and millions more people suffered from crippling chronic illnesses that had an impact on economies, society, and healthcare systems.
Furthermore, it was discovered that over 700,000 children under the age of five will die in 2021 as a result of air pollution, as they are especially vulnerable to it.
According to the SoGA report, the “most consistent and accurate predictor of poor health outcomes around the world” is outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is produced by burning biomass and fossil fuels in a variety of industries, including transportation, residential homes, wildfires, and more. PM2.5 is responsible for over 90% of air pollution-related deaths worldwide.
Additional contaminants, including air pollution from homes, ozone (O3), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is present in vehicle exhaust, also lead to the worldwide decline in human health.
Dr. Elena Craft, president of HEI, expressed her optimism that the report’s contents will spur reform.
“Air pollution has serious negative effects on health. We are aware that enhancing public health and air quality worldwide is doable and feasible,” she stated.
Pollutants like PM2.5 not only harm people’s health but also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that warm the earth. Regions with high NO2 levels will also have high ozone levels as the earth warms, potentially with more detrimental consequences on human health.
“This new report offers a stark reminder of the significant impacts air pollution has on human health, with far too much of the burden borne by young children, older populations, and low- and middle-income countries,” stated Dr. Pallavi Pant, Head of Global Health at HEI.
“This clearly indicates a chance for cities and nations to take air quality and air pollution into account as high-risk factors when creating health policies and other non-communicable disease prevention and control programs,” the speaker continued.
According to the paper, children are “uniquely vulnerable” to air pollution, and the consequences start as early as conception.
According to the report, exposure of young children to air pollution causes pneumonia and asthma in one in five fatalities worldwide and disproportionately impacts children from low-income families.
According to Kitty van der Heijden, deputy executive director of UNICEF, air pollution claims the lives of around 2,000 children under the age of five every day.
“There is no denying the global urgency,” she declared. “In order to minimize air pollution and safeguard children’s health, governments and businesses must take into account these estimates and locally accessible data and utilize them to inform effective, child-focused action.”
Apart from providing information on the detrimental impacts of air pollution on human well-being, the SoGA report asserts that there has been an improvement in awareness regarding the dangers of exposure to air pollution in homes and that, since 2000, the death rate of children under five has decreased by 53% as a result of greater access to clean energy for cooking.
Additionally, the most polluted areas in the world have started to take action, especially in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. These efforts include setting up air pollution monitoring networks and enforcing stronger air quality regulations.
