Air pollution kills 600,000 kids annually mostly in Africa, Asia -WHO

Air pollution kills 7 million people each year including 600,000 children.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that , almost all of these children are in poor countries in Asia and Africa. It also said 9 out of 10 people on the planet breathes in toxic air.

Dr. Maria Neira is the WHO’s Director for public health and environment.

“More than 7 million deaths, premature deaths, are occurring every year due to exposure to air pollution. And for that we need solutions and those solutions are there, we need to call. This is an urgent call to everyone who can provide solutions because we need to scale up dramatically the response to fight air pollution”, Dr. Neira said.

The WHO said 93 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15, which represents 1.8 billion children, are affected by poisonous air.

It said this damages their intelligence causing hundred of thousands of deaths due to acute lower respiratory infections.

WHO director for public health and environment. Dr. Maria Neira said about a quarter of adult deaths from heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer can be attributed to air pollution.

WHO will hold its global air pollution conference on Tuesday, October 30.