ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT/APP): The World Health Organization (WHO)
said a quarter of all global deaths of children under five are due
to unhealthy or polluted environments including dirty water and
air, second-hand smoke and a lack or adequate hygiene.
According to Radio report, the WHO said, such unsanitary and
polluted environments can lead to fatal cases of diarrhea, malaria
and pneumonia and kill 1.7 million children a year.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement that
a polluted environment is a deadly one particularly for young
children,”. Their developing organs and immune systems, and
smaller bodies and airways, make them especially vulnerable to
dirty air and water.”
In the report,”Inheriting a sustainable world: Atlas on
children’s health and the environment” the WHO said harmful
exposure can start in the womb, and then continue if infants and
toddlers are exposed to indoor and outdoor air pollution and
second-hand smoke.
This increases their childhood risk of pneumonia as well as
their lifelong risk of chronic respiratory diseases such as
asthma. Air pollution also increases the lifelong risk of heart
disease, stroke and cancer, the report said.
The report also noted that in households without access to
safe water and sanitation, or that are polluted with smoke from
unclean fuels such as coal or dung for cooking and heating,
children are at higher risk of diarrhea and pneumonia.