Nearly 2,000 children under the age of five die every day from air pollution, which has overtaken poor sanitation and lack of clean water to become the second-biggest health risk factor for young children around the world.
According to a CBS study, more than 8 million deaths among children and adults were caused by air pollution in 2021. new study from the Health Effects Institute (HEI), as pollution continues to take an increasing toll on health both indoors and outdoors.
Dirty air is now the second leading cause of death worldwide, surpassing tobacco use, and the second cause of death in the general population after high blood pressure. In children under the age of five, air pollution is second only to malnutrition as a risk factor for mortality.
These years State of Global Air Reportpublished by the HOI since 2017, and produced this year in partnership with Unicef, also shows that children in poor countries suffer the worst consequences, with the death rate from air pollution among children under five in most countries increasing by a hundredfold is high. Africa than in the high-income countries.
Pallavi Pant, the report’s lead author and head of global health at HEI, pointed out the vast inequalities the report revealed. “Far too much of the burden (is) borne by young children, older populations and low- and middle-income countries,” she said.
The report shows that small particles called PM2.5 – meaning they are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – are responsible for more than 90% of global air pollution deaths. PM2.5 particles can enter the bloodstream and appear to affect organs throughout the body. They have been found to be linked not only to lung disease, but also to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia and miscarriage.
The report showed how widespread and damaging the prevalence of PM2.5 pollution has become, finding that the presence of elevated levels of fine particulate matter was now “the most consistent and accurate predictor of poor health outcomes” around the world.
Kitty van der Heijden, Deputy Director of UNICEF, said: “Our inaction has profound consequences for the next generation, with lifelong consequences for health and well-being. The global urgency is undeniable. It is imperative that governments and businesses consider these estimates and locally available data and use them for meaningful, child-focused action to reduce air pollution and protect children’s health.”
According to the HOI, the consequences of the climate crisis are also worsening air quality. The report found that “as droughts become more severe and prolonged and the land becomes drier, wildfires are destroying once-thriving forests and dust storms are hitting vast expanses, filling the air with particles that linger for long periods of time.”
Higher temperatures in summer can also worsen the effects of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, which at higher temperatures can more easily turn into ozone, an irritating gas when inhaled. Long-term exposure to ozone contributed to nearly half a million deaths in 2021, the report found.
Tackling air pollution can also have beneficial consequences for the climate. About half a million of child deaths in 2021 were linked to dirty indoor air, mainly due to cooking with dirty fuels including biomass, charcoal, paraffin and coal. Switching to cleaner fuels, such as solar cooking stoves, could dramatically reduce PM2.5 emissions, as well as carbon dioxide emissions.
About 2.3 billion people around the world do not have access to clean cooking fuels. The International Energy Agency estimates that around $4 billion per year will be needed between now and 2030 to solve the problem in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Last month, the country held a global summit that raised $2.2 billion for projects to help people across the continent switch to cleaner methods.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said the issue should be seen as a global priority for governments, with implications for health, climate and national economies, as well as for gender equality, as women and girls are often tasked with finding firewood. “This is an issue that has been ignored for too long,” he said.
The State of Global Air report used data from the 2021 Global Burden of Disease study, which covers more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Previous reports have shown that almost everyone breathes unhealthy levels of air pollution every day, and half a million babies are killed every year by dirty air.