Environmental risks take lives of 1.7m children every year: WHO

Islamabad: Every year, environmental risks such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, and inadequate hygiene take the lives of 1.7 million children under 5 years, reveal two new reports of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Titled ‘Inheriting a Sustainable World: Atlas on Children’s Health and the Environment,’ the first report reveals that a large portion of the most common causes of death among children aged 1 month to 5 years -- diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia -- are preventable by interventions known to reduce environmental risks, such as access to safe water and clean cooking fuels.

The second report, which is titled ‘Don't pollute my future! The impact of the environment on children's health,’ provides an overview of the environment’s impact on children’s health, illustrating the scale of the challenge.

According to this report, 570,000 children under 5 years die every year from respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution, and second-hand smoke; 361,000 children under 5 years die due to diarrhoea, as a result of poor access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; 270,000 children die during their first month of life from conditions including prematurity, which could be prevented through access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in health facilities as well as reducing air pollution; 200,000 deaths of children under 5 years from malaria could be prevented through environmental actions, such as reducing breeding sites of mosquitoes or covering drinking-water storage; and 200,000 children under 5 years die from unintentional injuries attributable to the environment, such as poisoning, falls, and drowning.

Emerging environmental hazards such as electronic andelectrical waste (such as old mobile phones) that is improperly recycled, expose children to toxins which can lead to reduced intelligence, attention deficits, lung damage, and cancer. “The generation of electronic and electrical waste is forecasted to increase by 19 per cent between 2014 and 2018, to 50 million metric tonnes by 2018,” the report stated.

With climate change, temperatures and levels of carbon dioxide are rising, favouring pollen growth, which is associated with increased rates of asthma in children. Worldwide, 11-14% of children aged 5 years and older currently report asthma symptoms and an estimated 44% of these are related to environmental exposures. Children are also exposed to harmful chemicals through food, water, air and products around them, the reports emphasise.

Reducing air pollution inside and outside households, improving safe water and sanitation and improving hygiene (including in health facilities where women give birth), protecting pregnant women from second-hand tobacco smoke, and building safer environments, can prevent children’s deaths and diseases.

Multiple government sectors can work together to improve the situation. The Housing Ministry, for instance, can ensure clean fuel for heating and cooking; schools can provide safe sanitation and hygiene, and promote good nutrition; health facilities can ensure safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and reliable electricity; urban planners can create more green spaces, safe walking and cycling paths; the transportation ministry can reduce emissions; the agriculture ministry can reduce the use of hazardous pesticides; and the health sector can monitor health outcomes and educate about environmental health effects and prevention.