The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that more and more children are getting affected by air pollution. Aside from severe health risks and sickness, new record shows that toxic air can kill.
WHO revealed about 600,000 children under the age of 15-years-old are killed by air pollution, from both indoors and outdoors, each year. Its data showed that 93 percent of kids under the said age or about 1.8 billion youngsters that include 630 million children under the age of 5-years-old breathe toxic air.
Air pollution also affects nine out of 10 people on the planet that also lead to seven million premature deaths each year, WHO also noted. It also causes the death of almost every one in 10 children all over the world.
"Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, per the South China Morning Post. "This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfill their full potential."
WHO's new study focused on the "particulate matter" with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 micrometers or PM2.5. It includes toxins like sulfate and black carbon that can go deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system, which cause greater health risks.
According to TimesLIVE, children in poorer countries are the most affected by air pollution. Some 98 percent of kids under 5-years-old that belong to low and middle-income nations get more exposed to PM2.5 levels of WHO air quality guidelines. On the other hand, only 52 percent of children in the said age bracket in the high-income state get affected.
WHO noted that both household pollution from cooking and outdoor toxic air cause more than half of acute lower respiratory infection cases in children living in low and middle-income countries. When pregnant women get exposed to air pollution, there is a big possibility that they will give premature birth, and the babies can be small and have low birthweight, per NDTV.
Children breath faster than adults, thus they are more affected by air pollution. Unfortunately, it makes them inhale more toxins as their brains and bodies are still developing.
WHO found that air pollution can affect kids' development and cognitive ability. It can also cause asthma and childhood cancer while children exposed to high levels of air pollution have a greater risk of having chronic diseases like a cardiovascular disease when they age.
"Air pollution is stunting our children's brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected," Maria Neira. She is the head of the WHO's department of public health and the environment.
