The deaths of 1.7 million children could be prevented by reducing environmental pollution. Image source: Shutterstock (#311211287)
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its recent report “Inheriting a sustainable world: Atlas on children’s health and the environment” claims that unhealthy or polluted environments including dirty water and air, second- hand smoke and a lack of hygiene which can lead to diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia to name a few, kill around 1.7 million children a year with exposure as early as in the womb. “A polluted environment is a deadly one -– particularly for young children,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said. “Their developing organs and immune systems, and smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to dirty air and water.”, he further added.
Thomas Reuters Foundation News
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