The World Health Organization has recently warned the public that air pollution is now posing an even greater threat as compared to Ebola and HIV and is regarded to be responsible for one in four deaths among children aged under five. That said, the agency's health chief said that pregnant women who are constantly exposed to toxic air are most likely to give birth to low weight children who are seen to be more vulnerable to potentially deadly pneumonia. Following after the release of this advisory, records show that across the globe, more than 1.7 million children's deaths were associated with certain environmental hazards such as air pollution and contaminated water.
Toxic Air Is Now More Dangerous Than HIV Or Ebola Virus
In one of her statements reported by Evening Standard, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization has highly emphasized that the danger posed by air pollution is on a "much bigger scale" than HIV or Ebola, considering that there is an estimated annual death toll of 6.5 million a year globally. She explains that they would like to sound the alert, particularly for children so that people would become more aware of the situation. As a matter of fact, she continues to explain that air pollution starts in the womb of the mother since pregnant women are being exposed to air pollution, that's where the contamination starts.
Furthermore, according to The Telegraph, the threatening new research that allegedly reveals the growing threat posed by global pollution was found to be the most common causes of child mortality that are being exacerbated by pollution. Supposedly, the WHO claims that if this condition has already been tackled one-quarter of deaths and diseases in 2012 could have been prevented. However, amidst the continuous efforts to spread awareness of pollution sources, new figures today showed that there has been a drop of more than nine percent nationwide, and in London, in diesel car registrations in February, compared to the same month last year.
WHO's Future Plans
In addition, the latest WHO report and warning clearly states that exposure to hazardous chemicals through the air, food, water and products used in everyday life can also be directly associated with hindered brain development, while improperly recycled electronic waste is also found to be affecting the children's cognitive abilities. As of the press time, in order to continuously fight the problem, the WHO says that urgent action is required in order to improve the quality of water which is highly needed in the developing world, whilst more developed nations must ensure access to more green spaces, especially in densely concentrated urban areas.
