Air Pollution kills millions of people | Fusion - WeRIndia

Air pollution is increasing significantly in India. More than a million people died due to this. Shockingly, it is the third highest cause of deaths in the country.

The report of the State of Global Air 2019 revealed that over 1.2 million people have died due to air pollution in 2017. The report was released yesterday by the Health Effects Institute, a US-based organization.

The report said that both the outdoor as well as indoor air pollution contributed to around 5 million deaths from heart attack, stroke, chronic lung conditions including lung cancer and diabetes.

Out of these deaths, 3 million deaths are directly caused due to PM2.5 and half of them are from India, and the remaining half are from China.

In other words, out of total global deaths due to air pollution, more than half of the deaths are from both India and China.

That means the life of a newborn in the current scenario of air pollution in both India and China will be shortened by 30 months whereas the global life expectancy loss is 20 months.

Air pollution is one of the most leading causes of death globally. And more deaths are attributed to it than common risk factors like malnutrition, lack of physical activity and alcohol use.

The report anticipated that the initiatives of the Indian government to address the pollution like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Household LPG program, VI clean vehicle standards, National Clean Air Programme etc. may have significant health benefits in future.

If these initiatives have been implemented with commitment, then they would improve the air quality and thereby the health of people.

Thus, the study emphasized to focus on reducing air pollution as more people across the world die due to this pollution than from malaria or road traffic injuries.

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