GENEVA
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that air pollution killed around seven million people in 2012.
There were approximately six million deaths alone from air pollution in the low and middle income countries of South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Regions, it said.
The United Nations authority estimated that there were 3.7 million deaths in 2012 from outdoor air pollution while 4.3 million people died from indoor air pollution from sources such as coal, wood and biomass stoves.
“The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes,” Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health said. “Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe.”
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