After the report that initiated the reduction of life expectancy by 1.8 years – Earlier this year; a recent study has proven that toxic gases that are released into the atmosphere will directly affect the life expectancy of newborns by 20 months. This new figure will have an impact globally, but a study shows that Air Pollution will shorten the lives of children in South Asia by almost 30 months.
We had recently concluded that the national capital of India alone has a death toll of around 80 lives every day due to Air Pollution. The global stats say that one in every 10 deaths in a day is caused due to the pollutants in the air. Which in turn makes Air Pollution the number one killer standing way ahead of malaria and cigarette smoking as the cause.
Also, Read – Report: 7 of the 10 Most Polluted Cities in the World are in India
New reports have brought the inane fact that children of South Asia can be expected to consider their life being cut short by almost 20 months on average. Robert O’Keefe, the vice-president of the Health Effects Institute recently stated that it’s quite a shocker that the life of children is being shortened like this. He also said that there is no magic bullet that can cure this shortened life span but the government really needs to take things in their hands and take actions that will find a solution to this problem as soon as possible.
Reports that say Air Pollution will shorten the lives of children are real:
The Guardian investigated global air in 2019 and came to the conclusion that South Asia in specific has a shortened life span of up to 30 months for children. Sub-Saharan Africa had it reduced by 24 months and East Asia by 23 months. These bleak figures show that impending Air Pollution is especially affecting the health of society’s most vulnerable group to a great extent.
Alastair Harper, the head of campaigns and advocacy at Unicef UK has stated that better Air Monitoring will help understand the global picture of how Air Pollution is damaging us. This will also help us understand the ways in which we can tackle the problem in a much better and more cohesive manner.
Particulate Pollution – Which seems to be the major cause of all health concerns that are attributed to Air Pollution need instant action. While global cities like London have taken strict actions when it comes to pollution control the Asian subcontinent still lags behind because of the inability to see through how grave this problem of Pollution really is.
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For instance, few cities in Nepal and India have twice the rate of PM 2.5 exposure than China. It is alarming because few global cities have a total shutdown when such cases are observed. The subcontinent really needs to tackle the problem in a better fan to reduce the risk of harming young borns and small children. With a population that is bigger than most continents, these South Asian countries really need to take care of the issue by investing in electric vehicles and more comprehensible renewable energy sources. Air Pollution will shorten the lives of children around the globe if measures are not taken immediately.
