Day 3 Live Updates: WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health
FIT and #MyRightToBreathe are reporting live from first ‘Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health’.
India Tops in Air Pollution Related Deaths in Children: WHO
Air pollution is proving to be deadly for kids, damaging their brains and infecting them with serious diseases, finds a new World Health Organization (WHO) report. Every day 1.8 billion children, which makes around 93 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 years, breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk.
The report examines the heavy toll that air pollution has on child health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Tragically, many of them die. The WHO estimates that 600,000 children died in 2016 from acute lower respiratory infections caused by dirty air.
After India, Nigeria ranked second at 98,001 number of child deaths due to air pollution in 2016, followed by Pakistan (38,252), Democratic Republic of Congo (32,647) and Ethiopia (20,330).
Ravina Raj Kohli Represents the Citizen's Movement #MyRightToBreathe to a Global Platform
Ravina is a media professional turned environmental activist who has spurned a strong debate against India’s growing pollution crisis and the urgent need to take quick action. She will be representing the movement at the WHO conference in Geneva.
Launched by instinct of concerned Citizens in November 2016, #MyRightToBreathe (MRTB) started as a hashtag movement for amplifying the digital presence of a commons man voice against air pollution and neglect of the environment.
The movement works proactively towards promoting behavior change through school-based programs, provide evidence for informed policymaking and implementation of solutions at the grassroots that will help improve overall Environmental Health in India.
MRTB partners with established NGOs that are subject matter experts in different areas such as Chintan, HRIDAY, Care for Air, Lung Care Foundation, Khushii, and Swechha, to name a few.
She speaks about the need to take India’s fight to a global platform and engage with policy makers and representatives of other nations to help implement swift action against this growing menace.
Dr Arvind Kumar, Chest Surgeon and Founder of Lung Care Foundation is one of the Speakers at the Conference
Dr. Arvind Kumar is the Founder Trustee, Lung Care Foundation and Chairman, Centre For Chest Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He is one of the panelists at the event where he would be speaking on “Cities, Air Pollution, Climate Change and Health: the health sector as a leader for change”.
Here he talks about the harmful effects of air pollution and the need for a collective action.
Pollution Pods at the Conference
Check out the amazing Pollution Pods at WHO's first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health. These pods highlight the poor air qualities of various polluted cities like Delhi and let the visitors sample such air.
First day of the event has seen a flurry of activity, with posters put up with the tagline Unmask My City.
Dr Arvind Kumar Speaks on the Second Day at the WHO's Conference on Air Pollution and Health
“We may be breathing for life but this breathing is killing us!”, says Dr Arvind Kumar at the event.
This is how air pollution attacks every organ of our bodies.
There are no non-smokers in India, says Dr Kumar at the event.
Dr Kumar announced “Doctors for Clean Air” initiative at the Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Geneva.
WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Speaks on the Third Day of the Conference
Dr Tedros said that the past two days of the conference have been both ‘sobering and inspiring’.
He thanked the participants for their innovative ideas to combat air pollution in their countries and emphasized on the need for a global action to fight this menace. He said that all sectors must be involved in creating policies that help human health.
The WHO is organising the first ‘Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health’ at it’s headquarters in Geneva between 30 October - 1 November 2018.
Air pollution is termed as the “new tobacco” by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Breathing in polluted air is costing the world 7 million lives every year and causing harm to more than a billion people.
The conference, which will be attended by Ministers of Health and Environment of various countries and other representatives, will be aimed at implementing strategies which will help hasten the efforts to reduce air pollution significantly.
FIT and #MyRightToBreathe are reporting live from the event. Get all the live updates here.
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