Children and air pollution
Look no further than South Asia for a region that will have its children’s’ life shortened the most due to air pollution. The new report, State of Global Air, 2019 has daunting revelations that should sound alarm bells in Pakistan, a key country in the region.
The annual release has explored new dimension this time, gauging the effects of air pollution on mortality rates. The 2019 State of Global Air features an analysis of how much air pollution reduces life expectancy in countries around the world; and South Asia is the most effected primarily because of India. However, the situation in Pakistan is escalating adversely every year as well as PM2.5 levels keep rising in rural as well as urban centres.
The report highlights that the top five countries with the highest mortality rate due to air pollution belonged mostly South Asia. These countries include India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, while China from South East Asia tops the damage. Moreover, it goes on to show that air pollution is the fifth leading cause of premature death across the globe – leading to more deaths than those caused by malaria, road accidents, malnutrition or alcohol abuse.
How does air pollution reduce life expectancy? It leads to poorer health with respiratory diseases and many more. The study shows that air pollution accounts for 41 percent of global deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 20 percent of deaths from type 2 diabetes, 19 percent deaths from lung cancer, 16 and 11 percent from ischemic heart disease, and stroke, respectively. Besides, it also contributes to communicable disease like respiratory infections.
Current levels of air pollution have reduced life expectancy by 20 months on average worldwide, which means a child born today will die I year 8 months earlier than in the absence of air pollution.
Data for Pakistan shows that the country’s entire population has remained exposed to PM2.5 levels above the threshold of 35µg/m3 since 1990, which is why the mortality rates are high for children. If the three categories of pollution highlighted in the report – ambient PM2.5, ozone and household pollution are clubbed together, the cocktail has resulted in 128000 deaths in the country, which is among the top ten countries with the highest mortality burden in 2017.
The stats are big and scary, what’s being done at the policy level is peanuts in comparison. And tackling the issue might remain low on the priority ladder for those at the helm who have the excuse of much bigger issues at hand. But let us remind them that life expectancy is an important measure of the health of a society.
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