A shocking study on the damage caused by pollution reveals that a massacre takes place every day in which 2,000 children die.
«Air Pollution Kills», English speakers say: air pollution kills. This invisible enemy is now universally recognized but it is difficult to quantify its negative effects. A truly shocking study sheds light on the point and shows that among the victims of pollution there are above all the helpless among the helpless: children.
We talk about almost two thousand children who die every day due to pollution. This is what the SoGA report says (State of Global Air), a global monitoring of the state of the air by experts at the Health Effects Institute (HEI). But the deaths of the little ones are not the only worrying data from the SoGA report.
This is a phenomenon that should particularly concern us. It is well known that Italy is home to the most polluted area in Europe: the Po Valleywhich extends across various Northern Regions, from Friuli to Piedmont, and where particulate pollution levels have long been well above warning levels.
Air pollution, a silent killer that massacres 2 thousand children every year
According to the HEI report in 2021, air pollution caused 8.1 million deaths, a fact that makes it the second main risk factor for death, second only to malnutrition. Of these deaths, over 700 thousand involved children under five years of age. Smog represents for children under 5 the second mortality factor after malnutritionespecially in Africa.
Around 500,000 children died in 2021 due to household pollution caused by cooking indoors with polluting fuels, particularly in Asia and Africa. As shown by the SoGA report, developed for the first time in collaboration with Unicef, The smallest they are particularly at risk due to pollution.
Their health suffers in terms of premature births, low birth weight, lung diseases, asthma. The higher risk of pneumonia is also a product of pollution (one in five child deaths worldwide are caused by pneumonia). Asthma is also linked to pollution, the most common chronic respiratory disease in children.
The main suspect is fine particulate pollution (PM2.5), causing 7.8 million deaths worldwide. These microscopic particles (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) penetrate the lungs, increasing the risk of heart disease, but also stroke, diabetes, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
No less harmful to health are ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Despite these discouraging data it must be said that since 2000 the mortality rate of children under the age of five has more than halved (-53%) thanks to efforts to improve air quality, access to clean energy, healthcare and nutrition. The effort to limit the damage caused by domestic pollution has also increased.
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