A study published this Tuesday indicates that air pollution poses a greater risk to global health than smoking or alcohol consumption, a danger exacerbated in regions such as Asia and Africa.
According to this report by the University of Chicago Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) on global air quality, fine particle pollution from motor vehicles, industry, and fire represents “the greatest external threat to public health ” Worldwide.
But despite this, funds for the fight against air pollution represent only a small fraction of the funds allocated, for example, to infectious diseases, the report highlights.
Fine particle pollution increases the risk of lung and heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
EPIC estimated that if the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold for exposure to fine particles were met under all circumstances, global life expectancy would increase by 2.3 years, based on data collected in 2021.
By comparison, tobacco use reduces overall life expectancy by an average of 2.2 years and child and maternal malnutrition by 1.6 years.
In South Asia, the region of the world most affected by air pollution, the effects on public health are very pronounced.
According to models created by EPIC, Bangladeshis could gain 6.8 years of life expectancy if the pollution threshold were lowered to the WHO recommended level.
India’s capital New Delhi is the “most polluted megalopolis in the world,” while China “has made remarkable strides in fighting air pollution” since 2014, EPIC’s director of air quality programs said. , Christa Hasenkopf.
The average air pollution in the country decreased by 42.3% between 2013 and 2021, but it is still six times higher than the threshold recommended by the WHO. If this progress continues over time, the Chinese population is expected to increase an average of 2.2 years in life expectancy, according to the study.
But generally speaking, the regions of the world most exposed to air pollution receive fewer resources to combat this risk, the report notes.
“There is a deep discrepancy between where the air is most polluted and where the most collective and global resources are mobilized to solve this problem,” Hasenkopf explained.
While there are international mechanisms to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, there is no equivalent for air pollution.
“And yet, air pollution reduces the average life expectancy of a person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon more than HIV, malaria and other diseases,” the report said.
In the United States, the federal “Clean Air Act” program has helped reduce air pollution by 64.9% since 1970, increasing the average life expectancy of Americans by 1.4 years.
In Europe, the improvement in air quality in recent decades has followed the same trend as in the United States, but there are still large disparities between the east and west of the continent.
All these efforts are threatened, among other factors, by the increase in the number of forest fires around the world, caused by rising temperatures and more frequent droughts, associated with climate change, which cause spikes in air pollution.
Source: TSF
