Officially , 99 per centum of the global population is breathing dirty air that ’s potentially threatening their health , according to a damningnew updatefrom the World Health Organization ( WHO ) released today .
The in style statistics hail from the2022 updateof the WHO ’s air lineament database . It ’s the most extensive look at air quality around the world yet , assemble data on fine particulate matter matter ( PM10and PM2.5 ) and nitrogen dioxide ( NO2)in the air from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries .
The worst line quality can be found in low and midway - income rural area where just 1 pct of the cities meet theWHO ’s Air Quality Guidelines . Air in 17 percent of high - income commonwealth fall below the WHO recommended thresholds for PM10and PM2.5 , but almost all urban center across the world have troublesome levels of nitrogen dioxide in their melodic line .
BothNO2and particulate matter are hallmarks of contaminated line , chiefly make by the combustion of fossil fuels .
Particulate matter , specially the smaller particle known as PM2.5 , is up to of penetrating deep into the lungs and entering the bloodstream , causing damage to the cardiovascular organisation , the respiratory tract , the mental capacity , and other organs where it do disease and hurt . NO2comes from the emission from cars , trucks and buses , power plants , and diligence . This pollutant is primarily associated with respiratory diseases , specially asthma .
A constant stream of new studies evidence how negative air contamination can be , impact everything from increasing therisk of autismanddementiatopremature births . Just last year , theWHOrevised its guidelineson safeair pollutionlevels , pronounce the health jeopardy are greater than antecedently thought .
As a result of this spectacular risk to health , the WHO estimatesair pollutionis responsible for around4.2 million deathsevery singleyear .
The WHO report also put forward a few recommendations to improve the world ’s breeze quality . Firstly , they need all regions to borrow or revise and implement national air quality standards concord to the late WHO Air Quality Guidelines . They also desire more efforts to be made with strain quality monitoring , especially in depleted and halfway - income countries where there ’s not enough data .
Of course , the world also needs to urgently cut its dependence to fossil fuel , not just because of the menace it poses to our environment , but also to our wellness .
Speaking about this latest update , Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , WHO Director - General , said this late penetration into the reality ’s polluted air job is just another effective reason why the satellite needs to plain out fogey fuel and rapidly changeover to renewable vigour .
“ Current muscularity concern highlight the importance of hurry up the transition to cleaner , sizeable vim systems , ” Dr Tedros say in a statement . “ High fogey fuel prices , vigor security measures , and the urgency of addressing the twinned wellness challenges of air travel pollution and climate change , underscore the pressing need to move quicker towards a world that is much less dependent on fossil fuels . ”
“ After surviving a pandemic , it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths and countless preventable lost year of good wellness due to air defilement , " added Dr Maria Neira , WHO Director , Department of Environment , Climate Change and Health . " That ’s what we ’re saying when we look at the lot of breeze contamination data , evidence , and solutions uncommitted . Yet too many investments are still being sink into a polluted environment rather than in clean , healthy zephyr . "
