More than 90 percent of the world’s children breathe polluted air that puts their health and development at serious risk, and tragically kills many of them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Monday.
It called for acute response policies, measures and actions globally.
In its latest report, Air Pollution and Child Health: Prescribing Clean Air, the WHO estimated that in 2016, 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.
The heavy toll was caused by both outside and household air pollution, on the health of the world’s children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
According to the WHO, 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.
Another reason could be that they live closer to the ground, where some pollutants reach peak concentrations, at a time when their brains and bodies are still developing.
The…
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