Nine out of 10 people breathing polluted air, says WHO

GENEVA: More than 90 percent of the global population is breathing in high levels of pollutants, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, blaming poor air quality for some seven million deaths annually.

Fresh data from the UN health body showed that every corner of the globe is dealing with air pollution, although the problem is far worse in poorer countries. "Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalised people bear the brunt of the burden," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

WHO’s study, which examined health-hazardous levels of both outdoor and household air pollution, found that "around seven million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air". More than 90 percent of deaths linked to air pollution occur in low- or middle-income countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, it found.

"This is a very dramatic problem that we are facing," Maria Neira, the head of the WHO’s department of public health and environment, told reporters in a conference call. The data focused on dangerous particulate matter with a diameter of between 2.5 and 10 micrometres (PM10), and particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5).

PM2.5 includes toxins like sulfate and black carbon, which pose the greatest health risks since they can penetrate deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system. They can cause diseases like strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory infections such as pneumonia, WHO said.

Particularly worrying, the agency added, was that more than 40 percent of the global population still does not have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in their homes. The use of dirty cooking fuel, like burning charcoal, is a major source of household air pollution, which is estimated to cause some 3.8 million premature deaths each year.

"It is unacceptable that over three billion people -- most of them women and children -- are still breathing deadly smoke every day from using polluting stoves and fuels in their homes," Tedros said.

Wednesday’s report said access to clean fuels was increasing in every region, but warned "improvements are not even keeping pace with population growth in many parts of the world", pointing especially to sub-Saharan Africa.

Outdoor air pollution was meanwhile linked to 4.2 million fatalities annually. In around one million of those cases, a combination of indoor and outdoor pollution was to blame, WHO said. The report provides air quality data from more than 4,300 cities and towns in 108 countries, constituting the world’s biggest database of ambient, or outdoor, air pollution.

Meanwhile, residents of Kanpur reacted with dismay on Wednesday after the Indian city was found to have the worst air quality in a global World Health Organisation survey that urged the nation to clean up its act.

Fourteen Indian cities, led by the northern metropolis known for its leather and shoe industries, feature in the 15 cities with the dirtiest air in the WHO’s global list. The capital New Delhi and Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, also figured among the cities with the worst air in the survey of 4,300 cities in 100 countries.

Kanpur woke up to news of its unwanted accolade with pollution levels more than five times the WHO’s recommended safe limit. "As a resident of the city it makes me sad and appalled but this ranking should at least wake up the government and citizens to take some immediate steps to end the pollution," 55-year-old Kanpur resident Ramesh Soni told AFP.

The WHO report said more than 90 percent of the world’s people are breathing dangerous levels of pollutants that killed some seven million people in 2016.

It found more than 90 percent of deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries, mainly in Asia and Africa. The WHO called on India to copy China’s efforts to clean up its air, years after Beijing topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities. Kanpur suffers from high air pollution throughout the year, particularly in winter when bad air spikes to alarming levels.

Sudhir Gupta, a Kanpur leather goods manufacturer, blamed the cars and trucks that clog streets in the city of nearly three million. "It is not surprising. The number of vehicles on the roads is increasing every day and as compared to that, there is relatively very little green cover left," Gupta said.

Authorities also blame uncontrolled construction, waste burning and industrial pollution. Every month nearly 7,000 new vehicles hit the roads in the city. Thousands of small businesses and manufacturers depend on diesel generators due to lengthy power cuts and there are no curbs on burning of solid waste. "The report by WHO is a warning about the serious and runaway pollution and public health emergency that confronts India today," environmental charity the Centre for Science and Environment said in a statement.

India for years has been struggling to improve the air quality in urban areas, which takes a huge toll on the health of millions of residents. Each year dozens of its cities figure in the most polluted list but little or no effort is made to improve air quality. In the latest report Delhi marginally improved its ranking to sixth, up from the most polluted city in 2014.