Nearly 2 billion children – about 93 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 – breathe toxic, putrid air that’s so polluted it puts their health and well-being at serious risk, a new report said. Many of the children die: The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 600,000 children died in 2016 from lower respiratory infections caused by dirty air. Air pollution can affect children’s cognitive ability and can also trigger asthma as well as cancer. Children who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution may be at greater risk for chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease later in life. The problem is most severe in low- and middle-income countries, the report said, primarily nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and western Pacific. The report said that overall, about 7 million people around the world die each year because of air pollution. In fact, one-third of the deaths from stroke, lung cancer and heart disease stem from polluted air, the WHO said. Credit: WHO
