Air pollution is a very serious global health issue and on average, 2000 children die every day due to air pollution related health issues.
A new report from the US-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) says that air pollution is responsible for 8. 1,000,000 deaths in 2021 which is approximately 12% of worldwide deaths.
The HEI report (written in partnership with UNICEF for the annual State of Global Air Report) stressed the damaging effects of air pollution on children.
700,000 children under the age of 5 died in 2021 because of polluted air. Of these deaths over 500,000 were due to the use of sooty indoor cooking fuels such as coal, wood, or dung, and the highest percentages were in many of the African and Asian countries.
A new study says that air pollution is the second leading cause of premature death in the world (only second to hypertension but above tobacco and diet.
That’s the truly frightening aspect of the report, over 90% of these deaths caused by pollution are due to fine particulate matter which can lead to lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a slew of other serious medical problems.
Pallavi Pant, director of the Health Effects Institute, says that these are correctable problems, however, the bottom line is that everyone and their brother is breathing bad air daily.
She also mentioned how the report only focuses on disease rates in relation to air pollution levels, but that the overall effects, especially those pertaining to mental health and neurodegenerative diseases, are probably grossly underrepresented in the report.
This same report claims that ozone pollution caused nearly 500,000 deaths last year, and that number will rise dramatically as the planet warms.
