Dr. Carlos Dora of the World Health
Organization (WHO) states that, “It is crucial for city and national
governments to make urban air quality a health and development priority.” She
adds, “When air quality improves, health costs from air pollution-related
diseases shrink, worker productivity expands and life expectancy grows.
Reducing air pollution also brings an added climate bonus, which can become a
part of countries’ commitments to the climate treaty.” However in the same report they explain that air
pollution levels are rising in many of the world’s poorest cities.
In the large study from 2008-2013, the
WHO compared a total of 795 cities in 67 countries for levels of small and fine
particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). PM10
and PM2.5 include pollutants such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon that
can increase the risk of disease.
The organization says that despite
improvements around the globe that urban air pollution levels have increased by
8%. They also report that 80% of people
living in urban areas with air quality monitored are exposed to air quality
levels that exceed WHO limits, and low-income cities are the worst. In
fact 98% of low and middle income cities with over 100,000 inhabitants do not
meet WHO air quality guidelines and generally include cities in the Eastern
Mediterranean and South-East Asia Regions.
Many of those cities exceed WHO limits by 5 to 10 times. For high-income cities, only 56% of them do
not meet the guidelines and include cities in Europe, the U.S.,
and the Western Pacific Region.
Some of the ways that air quality can
be improved are to reduce industrial smokestack emissions and to increase the
use of renewable power sources. Other
things that can be done is to increase and support public transportation as
well as to encourage industries and businesses to recycle and adopt more
sustainable “green” practices.
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Source:who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/air-pollution-rising/en/
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