The World Health Organization notes that fossil fuels are responsible for most of the harmful emissions associated with acute and chronic disease (WHO) are called upon to take tangible steps to limit their use.
The UN agency also called on many governments to note that they have made significant revisions to their air quality indicators, including particulate matter – known as PM2.5 – can enter the bloodstream, along with nitrogen dioxide (NO2), another common urban pollutant and precursor to particulate matter and ozone.
Lower level
“It has been recognized that Air pollution has a much lower impact than previously thought”, said Dr Sophie Gumy, Technical Officer in the WHO Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health.
“So with all the new evidence coming out in the last 15 years since the last WHO air quality guideline update, most values of instruction levels have been reduced. So (for) particulate matter it has decreased by two, and for nitrogen dioxide it has decreased by four. “
According to the WHO, low- and middle-income countries are still exposed to more levels of unhealthy particulate matter than the global average, but the nitrogen dioxide models “are different, showing little difference.” between high and low and middle income countries”.
Invisible Danger
Agency data indicates that 4.2 million people die from exposure to outdoor air pollution, in addition to 3.8 million deaths related to indoor smoke produced by dirty stoves and fuels.
And based on WHO mathematical modeling of air pollution data available from 80% of the world’s urban areas, it indicates that most of us face an increased risk heart disease, stroke, lung disease, cancer and pneumonia.
Such a sad and dangerous situation, the United Nations health agency asserts that The momentum has been growing for better air quality every timee in the last decade.
Proof of this is the fact that more than 6,000 cities in 117 countries are currently monitoring air qualitycompared with 1,100 cities in 91 countries a decade ago.
© Unsplash / Kristen Morith
Smoke billows over the city skyline of Toronto, Canada.
Achieving cleaner air is also one of 17 Sustainable development goals, and a growing number of United Nations agencies have adopted resolutions urging member states to address the health impacts of smoky air.
Welcoming more and more cities to start measuring air quality for the first time, Dr Maria Neira, Director, WHO Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, said it was especially important that Data is also being collected on nitrogen dioxide. .
NO2”is a proxy indicator for traffic and it tells us what’s happening at the urban level and how this gas that we know is harmful and causes a lot of respiratory diseases – one of which is asthma – is increasing in many cities around the world. “
Despite this progress, “the bad news is we still have the majority of cities that don’t follow the air quality guidelines,” said Dr. Gumy. “People living there are still breathing in unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, with people in low- and middle-income countries experiencing the highest levels of exposure.”
Hot data
Pre-release World Health Day on April 7, 2022 update of the World Health Organization air quality database includes ground-first measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometers (PM10) or 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) or 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5). Both groups of pollutants originate mainly from human activities related to the burning of fossil fuels.
According to WHO, the new air quality database is the most extensive on the ground for air pollution exposure. More than 2,000 cities/human settlements now record ground-level monitoring data for particulate matter, PM10 and/or PM2.5, compared to the previous update. This marks a Reporting nearly sixfold since the database’s launch in 2011.
