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More than 90 Percent of Children Across the World Breathe Toxic Air Everyday

BY Soko Directory Team · October 30, 2018 07:10 am

Every day, more than 90 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 years (approximately 1.8 billion children) breathe air that is polluted which in turn puts their health and development at risk.

Unfortunately, many of them die as a result of being exposed to this polluted air and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2016, 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.

Children live, learn and grow in various contexts and environments: the home, school, the playground, the neighborhoods, the community, the country and the world at large. In these settings, they encounter pollutants from a wide range of sources, with varying effects on their health

A new WHO Report on Air pollution and child health prescribing clean air examines the heavy toll of both outside and household air pollution on the health of the world’s children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries has revealed that when pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they are more likely to give birth prematurely, and have small, low birth-weight children.

According to the report, air pollution also impacts neurodevelopment and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma, and childhood cancer. Children who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution may be at greater risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.

One reason why children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution is that they breathe more rapidly than adults and so absorb more pollutants.  

They also live close to the ground, where some pollutants reach peak concentrations – at a time when their brains and bodies are still developing.

Newborns and young children are also more susceptible to household air pollution in homes that regularly use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting 

Statistics from the report disclosed that more than 40 percent of the world’s population which includes for 1 billion children under 15 is exposed to high levels of household air pollution from mainly cooking with polluting technologies and fuels.

Furthermore, about 600’000 deaths in children under 15 years of age have been attributed to the joint effects of ambient and household air pollution in 2016.

Together, household air pollution from cooking and ambient (outside) air pollution cause more than 50 percent of acute lower respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries.

Air pollution has therefore been termed as one of the leading threats to child health, accounting for almost 1 in 10 deaths in children under five years of age.

Air pollution cuts so many lives short, but it can also lead to health burdens that last a lifetime. Exposure increases the risks of adverse birth outcomes, neurodevelopmental disorders, and reduced lung function.

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