Air pollution killed over 1 lakh children in a year in India: WHO

As high as 98 per cent children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries like India are exposed to toxic air, a World Health Organisation (WHO) study said. According to the study, over 1 lakh children of the same age died because of air pollution in India in 2016.

Apart from WHO study another report by social work organisation Greenpeace presented a grim picture of India's pollution.

The report said three of the world's largest nitrogen oxide air pollution emission hotspots are in India. Delhi-NCR, Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Talcher-Angul in Odisha are the biggest hotspots that have highest level of air pollution in the country.

The WHO study said a total of 101,788 deaths under the age of five -- 54,893 girls and 46,895 boys -- in 2016 were reported due to effects of air pollution in houses and outside.

The report noted that air pollution is one of the leading threats to child health, accounting for almost one in 10 deaths in children under five years of age. Air pollution can also cause childhood cancers, asthma, poor lung function, pneumonia and other types of acute lower respiratory infection, the report said.

The WHO report cited a case study that investigated whether exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy was associated with low birth weight in an integrated rural-urban, mother-child cohort in Tamil Nadu.

Globally, nearly 6 lakh children under the age of 15 died due to the joint effects of ambient and household air pollution in 2016, WHO report titled 'Air Pollution and Child Health: Prescribing Clean Air' said.

The problem is more acute in less developed and developing countries like India in comparison to developed countries. "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," the study says.

The PM2.5 (or particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres present in the air), also called "fine particulates", can be a matter of more serious health concern than PM10 (those with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres).

PM2.5 poses greater harm as being finer, it can easily be inhaled into the respiratory tract.

The PM2.5 has reached dangerous levels in New Delhi in the last two weeks.

(Inputs from Reuters & PTI)