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1 in 9 people die of air pollution: WHO

WHO releases a video showcasing dangers of air pollution. The video comes days after Greenpeace releases report on air pollution levels in Indian cities

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The World Health Organisation on Friday published a video that claimed that one in nine people in the world die due to air pollution. The video, which has garnered a lot of traction on Facebook because of the numbers it provides, also features a couple of Indians, who are seen covering their face with masks.

On Thursday, a Reuters report suggested that curbing outdoor air pollution may help prevent 2.7 million premature births a year, a condition that threatens children's lives and increases their risk of long-term physical and neurological problems, scientists said on Thursday.

Fine particles in the air from diesel fumes, fires and other sources, may increase the risk of premature births - alongside other risks including a mother's age and health - according to a study published in the Environment International journal.

India's lives lost to the tiny particulate matter is "approaching" China's numbers, the study said noting that both the countries together accounted for 52% of the total global deaths attributable to PM2.5 and recorded some 1.1 million early deaths due to it in 2015.

India has witnessed a 150 per cent rise in lives lost over the past two decades from ozone pollutants, according to the 'State of Global Air 2017' report.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda told reporters that his ministry was working on a programme and unless both the ministries worked together, the issue could not be addressed.

He was asked about the Environment Ministry's earlier assertion that there was no conclusive data to suggest that the deaths were exclusively caused by air pollution.

"The answer is with the Environment Ministry. What we are trying to do is work in coordination with it," said Nadda.

Asked if there was a plan, Nadda said, "We are working on it. Until we have coordination and work together, we will not be able to address this."

The study claimed yesterday that India now accounted for the maximum number of premature deaths due to ozone air pollution in the world, surpassing China.

The number of lives lost in India due to PM 2.5 was "approaching" that of China's, it claimed, noting that both the countries together accounted for 52 per cent of the total global deaths attributable to the tiny particulate matter and recorded some 1.1 million early deaths due to it each in 2015.

Recently, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, had said there was no conclusive data to establish that the deaths were caused exclusively by air pollution.

He had said that the effects of air pollution on health were synergistic manifestation of factors which included food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity etc. of individuals.

Greenpeace India had published a report titled 'Airpocalypse' in January in which it had claimed that 12 lakh deaths were reported annually in India due to air pollution.

Data gathered by Greenpeace India from state pollution control boards showed that there are virtually no places in India complying with WHO and National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) standards, and most cities are critically polluted. "Except for a few places in Southern India which complied with NAAQ standards, the entire country is experiencing a public health crisis due to high air pollution levels," the report said.

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