Air pollution does not just cause allergies or lifestyle illnesses, it is the biggest environmental hazard that each year is responsible for close to 7 million premature deaths worldwide
While jobs, inflation and unemployment, rightfully, are the subject of discussion and polarised debates, unfortunately, air pollution does not even figure on anyone’s list of urgencies.
This is even though on average 7.2 per cent of all daily deaths in 10 Indian cities have been found linked to PM 2.5 levels higher than World Health Organisation guidelines for safe exposure.
However, The Lancet Planetary Health Journal is not the only recent study to highlight the grim reality of air pollution and how it spares no one.
Earlier this year, the World Heart Federation’s World Heart Report 2024 underscored the urgency to tackle air pollution and the threat it poses to public health and longevity.
What the Lancet Study says:
The Lancet study reveals that a whopping 7.2% of all daily deaths in 10 of the largest and most polluted cities in India were linked to PM2.5 levels higher than WHO’s safe exposure limit.
While the entire nation is plagued with air pollution for a large part of the year, each year Delhi hits the headlines for alarming levels of AQI. As per The Lancet study, Delhi was found to have the largest fraction of daily and yearly deaths attributable to PM 2.5 air pollution, caused by particles sized 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter.
The study, which the authors claim to be the first multi-city time series analysis of short-term exposure to PM 2.5 and daily mortality in India, looked at roughly 36 lakh daily deaths across ten Indian cities between 2008 and 2019.
Included in the list of 10 cities are Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. While the other cities included in the analysis were Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Shimla and Varanasi.
World Heart Report 2024
Put together by the World Heart Federation, the World Heart Report highlights that air pollution is a major contributor to early deaths in those battling cardiovascular conditions.
Tiny invisible particles affect some of the body's vitals, as they greatly affect heart rhythm, cause blood clotting and the build-up of plaques in arteries and blood pressure.
That is not all, these tiny particles also have so many unknown long-term effects causing respiratory diseases and other conditions across the body.
Statistically speaking, it says that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death — more than 20 million every year.
How grave is the situation?
The World Heart Report finds that unfortunately, “air quality levels have barely improved despite a range of measures recommended by the WHO and other agencies.” There are as many as 1.9 million dying every year from heart diseases and just under a million strokes due to outdoor air pollution alone.
Moving on, air pollution is nearly ten times the recommended level in countries in Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Western Pacific region saw the highest number of deaths from heart diseases and stroke due to outdoor air pollution with nearly 1 million deaths in 2019 and the Southeast Asian Region was a close second, with 762,000 deaths.
The study further lists some of the countries facing the greatest challenges with air pollution, like Egypt, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.
What can be done?
Governmental intervention needs to be immediate and almost exhaustive if the air pollution needs to be first contained and then reversed. Sources of air pollution included the usual suspects, that is vehicular and industrial emissions.
The report titled Clearing the Air to Address Pollution’s Cardiovascular Health Crisis, further underscores how many of us overlook the great dangers posed by indoor air pollution. Data from the report shows that more than half of the nearly 7 million deaths due to air pollution are from cardiovascular conditions.
A number further on the rise. That is saying something, considering that already cardiovascular diseases are the world’s top killer, claiming more than 20 million lives each year.
The authors conclude by urging governments to take action, by drawing in solutions from all possible quarters, health and decision-makers, and urban planners. Air pollution spares no one, but affects the elderly, children and the vulnerable far more.
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