Courtesy of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution.
WASHINGTON – Pollution in the air, water and soil contributes one in seven deaths worldwide, according to a report released Tuesday by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution.
The report used World Health Organization data to gauge the number of deaths from air and water pollution-attributable diseases in 2012.
Exposure to polluted air, water and soil cause three times more deaths than those produced by malaria, and 14 times more than those produced by HIV or AIDS, according to Nathalie Grys of Green Cross Switzerland. An additional 200 million suffer from illnesses related to exposure to lead, mercury, pesticides and other contaminants.
Exposure to polluted air, water and soil cause three times more deaths than those produced by malaria, and 14 times more than those produced by HIV or AIDS, according to Nathalie Grys of Green Cross Switzerland. An additional 200 million suffer from illnesses related to exposure to lead, mercury, pesticides and other contaminants.
“You get soaring health costs and low productivity,” Grys said in a teleconference. “[Poorer countries] aren’t fully aware of the costs pollution can take on its people and its economy, and it can cripple their developmental potential.”
Formed in 2012 by the World Bank and U.N. agencies, the Global Alliance works to combat global environmental health issues, particularly in impoverished countries.
The Global Alliance’s findings also report that even countries with “emerging economies” may not make pollution a primary concern, paying for the consequences rather than taking preventative measures. In particular, the report cites that 10 percent of China’s gross domestic product, approximately $924 billion in 2013, goes toward remedying the effects of air pollution on its citizens, ranging from “asthma and impaired lung function to increased levels of cancer and heart attacks.”
“Environmental disease has always been a difficult and elusive thing to pinpoint,” Dr. Jack Caravanos, research director at the Blacksmith Institute for a Pure Earth, said in a teleconference. “The burden of environmental disease is high in low income countries and it will only get higher.”
While many of these pollutants are locally produced, they come as a result of the demand for commodities and consumer goods from wealthier countries, Grys added. In Ghana, as exemplified in the report, the burning of discarded electronics for parts to sell is not only a primary source of income for residents, but also a main contributor to poor air quality in the country.
The report highlighted the funding difficulties of developing lands, as many of them can only allocate one percent or two percent of their GDP toward decontamination and environmental projects.
Global Alliance Secretariat and Blacksmith Institute President, Richard Fuller, hopes wealthier countries will dedicate more of their resources to providing assistance to low- and middle-income countries to reduce pollution globally.
“Investments from the international community will serve the poorest well,” Fuller said. “It is simply a matter of providing communities and governments with the tools to get the job done now.”
