One in seven children wprldwide, suffer high air pollution: UNICEF

According to a new report by the United Nations children agency UNICEF, almost one in seven children worldwide live in areas with high levels of outdoor air pollution, especially in South Asia, with their growing bodies most vulnerable to damage.

The body who published the study one week before the annual UN climate-change talks has called on nearly 200 governments around the world, which will meet in Morocco from November 7-18, 2016 for discussion on global warming, to restrict the use of fossil fuels aimed at improving general health and slower climate change.

UNICEF said one in seven children or around 300 million children worldwide, lived in areas where there is a very high amount of outdoor pollution, defined by UNICEF as at least six times dirtier than international guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake,

"Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year, and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day," causing sickness such as pneumonia.

"Pollutants don't only harm children's developing lungs. They can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution," Lake added.

The agency, which promotes the rights and well-being of children, made reference to satellite imagery which it says indicated that about two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution exceeds minimum air-quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization.  

It said the air is poisoned by vehicle emissions, fossil fuels, dust, burning waste and other airborne pollutants, it said.

The study also revealed that South Asia has the largest number of children living in such areas at about 620 million, which is followed by Africa with 520 million and the East Asia and Pacific region with 450 million children.