About 520 million children in Africa are living in areas with outdoor air six or more times toxic than international pollution guidelines that can cause serious health damage, including harming their developing brains, a new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report has revealed.
Speaking to the report called ‘Clear the air for children’ in a news release, UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake said: “Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs, they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains and, thus, their futures.”
“Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under-five every year and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day,” he stated adding: “No society can afford to ignore air pollution.”
The findings come a week ahead of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco, where UNICEF is calling on world leaders to take urgent action to cut air pollution in their countries.
The report further revealed that around two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution, caused by factors such as vehicle emissions, heavy use of fossil fuels, dust and burning of waste, exceeds minimum air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
South Asia has the largest number of children living in these areas, at 620 million, with Africa following with 520 million children, and the East Asia and Pacific region with 450 million children living in areas that exceed guideline limits.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
