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STORY: WHO / AIR POLLUTION CHILDREN
TRT: 3:04
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 OCTOBER 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – 2017-2018, COLOMBIA
1. Aerial shot, city streets
2. Various shots, traffic
3. Wide shot, factory
4. Close up, factory smokestacks
5. Med shot, doctor placing oxygen mask on child
29 OCTOBER 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Every day, now the moment we are talking almost 93% of the children worldwide breathing toxic air. And this has terrible health consequences. Not only the fact that 600,000 of them die every year because of lower respiratory infections. In addition to that, if a pregnant woman is exposed to air pollution, then the risk of having a pre-term birth is very high. In addition to that, the baby will be on a very small weight. If you are exposed to air pollution pre-natal, or post-natal, then the risk of having problems with the development of your brain is very important. We know that children will have problem with their neural and cognitive development. This is critically important. The same for your lungs, if you are exposed while you are a child or pre-natal, or post-natal, your lungs will be at risk and your development will be suffering.”
FILE- LYON, FRANCE, 2018
7. Close up, factory smokestack
8. Wide shot, traffic
9. Zoom out, smokestacks to people exercising
29 OCTOBER 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Evidence is telling us that more than 7 million deaths, premature deaths, are occurring every year due to exposure air pollution, and for that we need solutions. Those solutions are there, we need to call. This is an urgent call to everyone to provide solutions because we need to scale up dramatically the response to fight air pollution.”
FILE - BEIJING, CHINA, 2018
11. Wide shot, smog over city traffic
12. Pan left, woman wearing mask walking down street
13. Med shot, man wearing mask riding bicycle
29 OCTOBER 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We can all contribute to reduce air pollution we need to make sure that we ensure a healthy energy transition to cleaner fuels, cleaner fuels and technologies at a household level, and in our cities as well. Making sure that we have energy efficiency and moving and accelerating the move toward renewable energies among many other things.”
FILE – KENYA, 2018
15. Close up, garbage burning
16. Wide shot, girl running downhill with garbage burning
Every day around 93% of the world’s children under the age of 15 years (1.8 billion children) breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk. Tragically, many of them die: WHO estimates that in 2016, 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.
A new WHO report on “Air pollution and child health: Prescribing clean air” examines the heavy toll of both ambient (outside) and household air pollution on the health of the world’s children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The report is being launched on the eve of WHO’s first ever Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health.
It reveals that when pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they are more likely to give birth prematurely, and have small, low birth-weight children. Air pollution also impacts neurodevelopment and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma, and childhood cancer. Children who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution may be at greater risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.
“Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their full potential.”
One reason why children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution is that they breathe more rapidly than adults and so absorb more pollutants.
They also live closer to the ground, where some pollutants reach peak concentrations – at a time when their brains and bodies are still developing.
Newborns and young children are also more susceptible to household air pollution in homes that regularly use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, heating and lighting
“Air Pollution is stunting our children’s brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected. But there are many straight-forward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants ,” says Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health at WHO.
“WHO is supporting implementation of health-wise policy measures like accelerating the switch to clean cooking and heating fuels and technologies, promoting the use of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing and urban planning. We are preparing the ground for low emission power generation, cleaner, safer industrial technologies and better municipal waste management, ” she added.
Key findings:
• Air pollution affects neurodevelopment, leading to lower cognitive test outcomes, negatively affecting mental and motor development.
• Air pollution is damaging children’s lung function, even at lower levels of exposures
• Globally, 93% of the world’s children under 15 years of age are exposed to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels above WHO air quality guidelines, which include the 630 million of children under 5 years of age, and 1.8 billion of children under 15 years
• In low- and middle-income countries around the world, 98% of all children under 5 are exposed to PM2.5 levels above WHO air quality guidelines. In comparison, in high-income countries, 52% of children under 5 are exposed to levels above WHO air quality guidelines.
• More than 40% of the world’s population – which includes for 1 billion children under 15 - is exposed to high levels of household air pollution from mainly cooking with polluting technologies and fuels.
• About 600’000 deaths in children under 15 years of age were attributed to the joint effects of ambient and household air pollution in 2016.
• Together, household air pollution from cooking and ambient (outside) air pollution cause more than 50% of acute lower respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries.
• Air pollution is one of the leading threats to child health, accounting for almost 1 in 10 deaths in children under five years of age.
WHO’s First Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, which opens in Geneva on Tuesday 30 October will provide the opportunity for world leaders; ministers of health, energy, and environment; mayors; heads of intergovernmental organizations; scientists and others to commit to act against this serious health threat, which shortens the lives of around 7 million people each year. Actions should include:
• Action by the health sector to inform, educate, provide resources to health professionals, and engage in inter-sectoral policy making.
• Implementation of policies to reduce air pollution: All countries should work towards meeting WHO global air quality guidelines to enhance the health and safety of children. To achieve this, governments should adopt such measures as reducing the over-dependence on fossil fuels in the global energy mix, investing in improvements in energy efficiency and facilitating the uptake of renewable energy sources. Better waste management can reduce the amount of waste that is burned within communities and thereby reducing ‘community air pollution’. The exclusive use of clean technologies and fuels for household cooking, heating and lighting activities can drastically improve the air quality within homes and in the surrounding community.
• Steps to minimize children’s exposure to polluted air: Schools and playgrounds should be located away from major sources of air pollution like busy roads, factories and power plants.
