estern Pacific nations, which include China and Japan along with Pacific Islands, suffered highest per capita death rates from both types of pollution. Southeast Asia and Africa were hard hit by indoor air pollution.
Outdoor air pollution was worst in the cities of Arab nations and northern India — countries which also saw the highest per capita deaths. But the pattern of deaths also revealed economic rifts within countries. Per capita death rates were significantly higher among low- and middle-income nations in Europe and the Western Pacific region.
In the Americas, by contrast, per capita deaths were more than twice as high in more affluent nations.
Although the organization has not yet released data breaking death rates down by country, it did identify failure to implement cleaner alternatives for transportation, energy and industry as the core problems — a correlation reflected in the fact that the dirtiest cities were not the economic powerhouses of India and China, which have fallen into the second tier after efforts to improve air quality.
“Excessive air pollution is often a by-product of unsustainable policies in sectors such as transport, energy, waste management and industry. In most cases, healthier strategies will also be more economical in the long term due to health-care cost savings as well as climate gains,” said Carlos Dora, coordinator for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health at the WHO.
Certainly there are innovative ideas on how to clean up at least the transport and energy sectors, including self-driving cars, trucks and ships and cleaner sources of fuel and electricity. But U.N. and WHO efforts indicate that many developing countries have yet to take even basic steps, such as replacing older diesel vehicles with newer, cleaner models and designing roads and signage to ease congestion.
The WHO said it plans to devise a road map for preventing cancers and cardiovascular diseases related to air pollution and will step in to provide guidance for countries as they adopt international recommendations, expanding its traditionally narrow focus on health.
Images: World Health Organization, 螺钉 and WambuiMwangi via Wikimedia Commons
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