... continued from previous page.
According to the WHO, air pollution causes 1.8 million deaths due to lung cancer every year and is responsible for 29% of lung cancer deaths overall. – and today an entire generation is facing this hidden 'chemical warfare', which can cause permanent and serious damage.
According to another study by Berkley Earth, exposure to 22 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) of PM 2.5 pollution is equivalent to smoking one cigarette. This means that I, a so-called non-smoker, may as well have smoked 2,372 cigarettes each year just through breathing the air in Delhi, which has an annual average PM 2.5 of 143 µg/m3.
This is not just a problem in India, however. In 2016, 91% of the world population was living in places which do not meet WHO air-quality standards. WHO data further reveals that nine out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants and 7 million premature deaths annually are linked to air pollution.
Pollution-impacted communities are also more vulnerable to infectious diseases like COVID-19. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported that an increase of only 1 µg/m3 in PM 2.5 exposure is associated with an 8% increase in the COVID-19 death rate. The Italian Society of Environmental Medicine has reported that “the rapid increase of contagion rates that has affected some areas of Northern Italy could be tied to atmospheric particulate pollution acting as a carrier and booster there”.
Indian cities suffer from the worst air quality, but air pollution is a global problem
Indian cities suffer from the worst air quality, but air pollution is a global problem
Image: Statista
Today, COVID-19 has brought about unprecedented behavioural changes across the globe. Most people are wearing masks, businesses are encouraging staff to work from home, more and more countries are promoting cycling, and every individual is talking about COVID-19. It is ironic that air pollution, which has a much higher annual death toll than COVID-19, has never inspired even a fraction of such behavioural change.
Despite the severe and permanent damage to our health caused by air pollution and its global spread, political leaders and decision-makers as well as large communities are still unaware of the gravity of the situation. There is no unified global effort towards achieving the kind of clean air we experienced during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
We at the Lung Care Foundation strongly believe in the '3 A' approach to addressing air pollution: awareness – awakening – action. Awareness of the serious health impacts of air pollution will awaken people to the urgency and gravity of the issue, leading to decision-makers taking actions towards clean air.
In our opinion, doctors are in the best position to lead this approach globally. They are 'motivated motivators' who see the health impacts of air pollution first-hand in their daily practice - and they are highly respected in society. Patients and the public trust their opinion and advice. It is time for doctors across the globe to realize their potential and use their powerful voice to achieve clean air.
Doctors in India have taken the lead in this area through the Doctors for Clean Air Campaign. Twenty-one national medical associations, representing close to 200,000 specialist doctors, have acknowledged air pollution as a public health emergency and have committed to empower and engage their members to become advocates for clean air.
Doctors across the world have a duty to awaken the public and policy-makers about the need for clean air. It is essential for human health, not a luxury. The time to act is now. As we recover from COVID-19 and economies are rebuilt across the globe, our focus ought to be on providing clean air to our citizens. Overlooking air pollution with its health consequences, for short-term economic benefits, is not an option. The time to prioritize human health over national economic health is now.
Share
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
Written by
Arvind Kumar, Founder and Managing Trustee, Lung Care Foundation of India; Chairman, Centre for Chest Surgery and Director, Institute of Robotic Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi
Rajiv Khurana, Founder Trustee, the Lung Care Foundation, and Founder and CEO, The Personnel Lab
Abhishek Kumar, Chief Executive Officer and Founder Trustee, Lung Care Foundation
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Subscribe for updates
A weekly update of what’s on the Global Agenda
More on Air Pollution
Continued on page 74 ...
Indian cities suffer from the worst air quality, but air pollution is a global problem.
Today, COVID-19 has brought about unprecedented behavioural changes across the globe. Most people are wearing masks, businesses are encouraging staff to work from home, more and more countries are promoting cycling, and every individual is talking about COVID-19. It is ironic that air pollution, which has a much higher annual death toll than COVID-19, has never inspired even a fraction of such behavioural change.
Despite the severe and permanent damage to our health caused by air pollution and its global spread, political leaders and decision-makers as well as large communities are still unaware of the gravity of the situation. There is no unified global effort towards achieving the kind of clean air we experienced during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
73