Air pollution
Air pollution may be visible to the naked eye, but its most damaging and deadly health effects take time to appear. It contributes significantly to lung, heart and respiratory diseases, accounting for more than 2 million deaths annually in the South-East Asia region.
In developing foetuses, babies and young people, exposure to toxins can launch a lifetime of health problems. It can impair organ and nervous system development and seed diseases that emerge later in life. It can also lead to lower academic performance and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which can have serious economic and quality of life consequences in adulthood.
A strong association between air pollution and weather means that air quality is very sensitive to climate change. Higher temperatures, more frequent heat waves, less precipitation, humidity changes and air stagnation will add to the problem. These impacts will combine with urbanisation, energy consumption and other human factors to increase concentrations of toxins such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter. In addition, more frequent wildfires are adding smoke to the skies across many areas of South-East Asia.
Climate change worsens the effects of fossil fuel pollution by accelerating chemical reactions that create more ozone. And concentrations of certain particulates are expected to linger because of air stagnation caused by climate-driven changes in temperature and precipitation. Reducing use of fossil fuels is critical to mitigating the effects of climate change.
Climate drivers
Who is at risk?
- Babies in utero, infants and young children
- Anyone with asthma or respiratory illness
- People in urban areas, especially the poor and those who work outdoors
- People with underlying health conditions, particularly heart and lung disease
- Smokers
Ways we can adapt
Individuals and communities can...
- Minimise outdoor time, especially strenuous outdoor activities, when air pollution is high
- Transition to cleaner energy sources for household cooking and heating -- especially transitioning away from wood fires for cooking
- Consolidate trips by car; increase use of public transportation
- Avoid burning trash or wood
- Introduce citizen-run, real-time air pollution monitoring systems and public early warning systems for high air pollution
- Prioritise forested and peatland areas for protection and restoration and introduce fire management practices
Policymakers and other health sector leaders can...
- Enact policies that foster the transition to cleaner and/or more efficient fuels and other increase energy efficiency efforts
- Use cleaner technologies to reduce pollutants from vehicles
- Introduce carbon capture and other scrubbing technologies in energy generation facilities
- Prioritise forested and peatland areas for protection and restoration, and introduce fire management practices
- Encourage countries to work together to address pollution that travels across borders, such as increasing mapping and early warning of smoke from fires
After the smoke clears: long-term effects of wildfires on children
In recent decades, as wildfires on every continent claimed lives and devastated communities and ecosystems, scant attention has been paid to the long-term health effects, especially in children.
UNICEF estimated in 2019 that air pollution from forest and peatland fires across Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia jeopardised the health of nearly 10 million children. Some 46,000 schools were closed for an extended period, derailing learning for nearly 8 million chil
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