New estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) have suggested that an estimated 12.6 million people have lost their lives due to living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012, roughly 25% of total death cases globally.
There are many environmental risk factors, including air, water and soil pollution, climate change, ultraviolet radiation, and chemical exposures, and all of them reportedly add to over 100 diseases and injuries.
In a press release, WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, said that a healthy environment leads to a healthy population. She cautioned that in case nations don’t take actions to make environments healthy, then millions of people will get sick and die at an early age.
The report’s second edition, ‘Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks’ disclosed that since it started getting published about 10 years back, life loss because of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mainly caused by air pollution, such as exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, have been responsible for nearly 8.2 million of the deaths.
NCDs, including cancers, stroke, heart disease, and chronic respiratory disease, are presently accountable for roughly two-thirds of the total deaths attributed to unhealthy environment.
Simultaneously, deaths caused by infectious diseases, like malaria and diarrhea mostly linked to poor water, sanitation and waste management, have fallen.
This trend is attributable to increases in availability of safe water and sanitation, beside better immunization, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and necessary medicines.
The report has highlighted cost-effective measures that can be taken by nations to reverse the upward trend of disease and deaths due to unhealthy environment. The measures include decreasing the use of solid fuels in preparing food and by growing the access to low-carbon energy technologies.
In a report published by the WHO, "The second edition of the report, "Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks", reveals that since the report was first published a decade ago, deaths due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mostly attributable to air pollution (including exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke), amount to as much as 8.2 million of these deaths. NCDs, such as stroke, heart disease, cancers and chronic respiratory disease, now amount to nearly two-thirds of the total deaths caused by unhealthy environments."
"There's an urgent need for investment in strategies to reduce environmental risks in our cities, homes and workplaces", said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. "Such investments can significantly reduce the rising worldwide burden of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, injuries, and cancers, and lead to immediate savings in healthcare costs."
According to a report in HuffingtonPost by Nick Visser, "The human toll of all this pollution and destruction is vast. A report released Tuesday by the World Health Organization links nearly 13 million deaths worldwide to preventable environmental factors. The study found that nearly 1 in 4 deaths in 2012, the most recent year cited in the report, had to do with surroundings made unhealthy by air pollution, poor water quality and other environmental factors. More than 1 in 4 deaths of children under the age of 5 were linked to the same sources."
"A healthy environment underpins a healthy population," Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, said in a statement. "If countries do not take actions to make environments where people live and work healthy, millions will continue to become ill and die too young."
"Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation, reportedly contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries," according to a news report published by UN.
At the same time, deaths from infectious diseases, such as diarrhoea and malaria, often related to poor water, sanitation and waste management, have declined. Increases in access to safe water and sanitation have been key contributors to this trend, alongside better access to immunization, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and essential medicines.
By: Diana Bretting.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations &
Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam