Can we imagine a world where air, water and healthy food are available to everyone?
In the midst of a pandemic, a contaminated planet, an increase in diseases such as cancer, asthma and heart disease, the WHO will take advantage of the celebration of World Health Day 2022 to draw the world’s attention to the urgent measures that they need to maintain the health of human beings and the planet and encourage change so that societies care about well-being.
The WHO estimates that, every year, more than 13 million deaths occur due to avoidable environmental causes, not to mention the climate crisis, which is the greatest health threat facing humanity. The climate crisis is also a health crisis.
Our political, social and commercial decisions are favoring the climate and health crisis. More than 90% of people breathe unhealthy air that is a result of the burning of fossil fuels. Due to a warming planet, mosquitoes spread diseases farther and faster than before. Extreme weather events, land degradation and water scarcity are displacing people and affecting their health.
Pollution and plastics reach the bottom of our deepest oceans, the highest mountains, and have made their way into our food chain. Highly transformed and unhealthy food and beverage manufacturing systems are driving a wave of obesity, increasing cancer and heart disease, while generating a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the healing capacity of science, it has also exposed the inequalities of our world. The pandemic has revealed deficiencies in all areas of society and has made clear the urgent need to forge sustainable well-being societies committed to achieving equitable health, both now and for future generations, without exceeding ecological limits.
The current approach to economics leads to inequitable distribution of income, wealth and power, and too many people continue to live in poverty and instability. Wellbeing economies must ensure people’s well-being, equity and environmental sustainability.
These objectives must be reflected in long-term investments, budgets focused on well-being, social protection and legal and fiscal strategies. To break these cycles of destruction of the planet and human health, it is necessary to adopt legislative measures, reform companies and support and incentivize people to make healthy decisions.
99% of the world’s population breathe polluted air (UN)
Poor air quality leads us to suffer from cardiovascular diseases, strokes and lung problems. In total, seven million deaths annually that could be avoided. The UN agency in charge of ensuring global public health asks to stop financing the fossil fuels that kill us.
Almost the entire world population (99%) breathes air that exceeds the air quality limits established by the World Health Organization and endangers our health, according to the results of the 2022 update of its database on air quality.
According to new information, presented on the eve of World Health Day, a record number of more than 6,000 cities in 117 countries are now monitoring air quality, 2,000 more than in the last update in 2018, an increase of almost six times since the database was launched in 2011
And yet, residents of these cities continue to breathe unhealthy levels of fine particles and nitrogen dioxide. Those most at risk are people in low- and middle-income countries.
These results have led the World Health Organization to stress the importance of curbing the use of fossil fuels and taking other tangible measures to reduce air pollution levels.
The 2022 update introduces for the first time ground-based measurements of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a common urban pollutant and precursor to particulate matter and ozone. It also includes measurements of particles with diameters equal to or less than 10 μm (PM10) or 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Both groups of pollutants originate mainly from human activities related to the combustion of fossil fuels.
From the air to our lungs, from there to our blood
Meanwhile, the database on the damage that air pollution does to the human body has grown rapidly and points to significant damage caused by even low levels of many air pollutants.
Particles, especially PM2.5, are capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and entering the bloodstream, causing cardiovascular, cerebrovascular (stroke) and respiratory impacts. There is increasing evidence that particles affect other organs and cause other diseases as well.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is associated with respiratory diseases, especially asthma, causing respiratory symptoms (such as coughing, wheezing or difficulty breathing), hospital admissions and visits to emergency departments.
The World Health Organization last year revised its Air Quality Guidelines, making them stricter in an effort to help countries better assess the healthiness of their own air.
"Current energy problems highlight the importance of accelerating the transition to cleaner and healthier energy systems," said the Director General of the Organization when announcing the results of the update of the aforementioned database.
"The high prices of fossil fuels, energy security and the urgency of facing the double health challenge posed by air pollution and climate change, highlight the urgent need to move more quickly towards a world much less dependent on fossil fuels," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Measures that governments can take
Several governments are taking steps to improve air quality, but the UN agency calls for action to be rapidly stepped up to:
- Adopt or revise and implement national air quality standards in accordance with the latest air quality guidelines:
- Monitor air quality and identify sources of air pollution.
- Support the transition to the exclusive use of clean energy in homes for cooking, heating and lighting.
- Build safe and affordable public transportation systems, as well as networks for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Enforce stricter standards on vehicle emissions and efficiency, and make inspections and maintenance mandatory.
- Invest in homes and efficient energy generation.
- Improve the management of industrial and municipal waste.
- Reduce agricultural waste incineration, forest fires and certain agroforestry activities (for example, charcoal production).
- Include air pollution in the curricula of health professionals and provide tools for the health sector to engage.
In countries with higher incomes, particle pollution is lower. However, most cities have problems with nitrogen dioxide.
The air in 17% of cities in high-income countries is below the Air Quality Guidelines for PM2.5 or PM10 particles. In low- and middle-income countries, air quality in less than 1% of cities meets recommended thresholds.
Globally, low- and middle-income countries continue to experience greater exposure to unhealthy levels of particulate matter compared to the global average, but NO2 patterns are different, showing fewer differences between high- and low- and middle-income countries.
Around 4,000 cities and towns in 74 countries collect nitrogen dioxide data at ground level. Together, their measurements show that only 23% of the inhabitants of these places breathe average annual concentrations of nitrogen dioxide that reach the levels of the recently updated version of the Air Quality Guidelines.
"Having survived a pandemic, it is unacceptable that there are still seven million preventable deaths and countless preventable years of good health due to air pollution. That’s what we say when we examine the mountain of data, evidence and solutions available on air pollution. However, too many investments continue to be made in a polluted environment instead of in clean and healthy air," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at WHO.
