Air pollution is the greatest risk to human health, according to a study

For the average person, the air pollution is more dangerous than tobacco or the alcohol and the threat is worse in the south of Asia, its world epicenter, despite improvements in China, says a study released Tuesday.

Despite this panorama, the financing to face this challenge is a fraction of that destined to fight against infectious diseases, according to an investigation by the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago (EPIC).

Its annual report on the Air Quality Index (AQLI) showed that air pollution by fine particles – coming from vehicle and industrial emissions, forest fires, etc. – continues to be the “greatest external threat to public health”.

If the world permanently reduced these pollutants to the limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the average person’s life expectancy would increase by 2.3 years based on data collected up to 2021.

Fine particles are linked to lung disease, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

By comparison, tobacco use reduces global life expectancy by 2.2 years, while child and maternal malnutrition is responsible for a reduction of 1.6 years.

Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden, despite weaker infrastructure, and minimal funds to deal with air pollution.

All of Africa receives less than US$300,000 for that purpose.

“There is a profound disconnect between the places where air pollution is worst and the places where, collectively and globally, we are deploying resources to fix the problem”Christa Hasenkopf, director of air quality programs at EPIC, told AFP.

While there is an international financing association called the Global Fund that pours 4 billion dollars a year for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, there is no equivalent fund for air pollution.

“However, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cameroon, air pollution shortens more years of life for the average person than HIV/AIDS, malaria and other health threats,” notes the report.

Bangladesh leads the ranking

South Asia is the most affected area worldwide. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are, in that order, the four most polluted countries by their annualized averages of fine particulate matter, which is detected by satellite and is defined as particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2, 5).

Pollution concentrations are then taken into the AQLI index, which measures the impact on life expectancy.

The inhabitants of Bangladesh, where the average levels of PM2.5 were 74 micrograms per cubic meter, would gain 6.8 years of life if they were reduced to the 5 micrograms per cubic meter established by the WHO.

Delhi, the capital of India, is “the most polluted megacity in the world” with an annual average of 126.5 micrograms of particles per cubic meter.

On the other hand, China “made outstanding progress in his war on air pollution” which began in 2014. The pollution under 42.3% between 2013 and 2021. If this trend continues, each Chinese will be able to live 2.2 more years.

In the United States, regulations such as the Clean Air Act helped reduce pollution in 64.9% since 1970, increasing the life expectancy of Americans by 1.4 years.

But the growing threat of wildfires – linked to higher temperatures and less water from climate change – have pushed air pollution from the western United States to Latin America and Southeast Asia.

For example, in the 2021 California wildfire season, Plumas County received an average concentration of fine particulate matter more than five times higher than that reported by the WHO.

The improvement in air pollution in North America in recent decades is similar to that in Europe, but there are still large differences between Western and Eastern Europe. Bosnia is the most polluted European country.

Source: AFP