The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new report with very distressing findings concerning the effects that our polluted environments have on children five years and younger. According to the WHO, about 1.7 million young children die every year as a result of the pollution in their environments.
The causes include unsafe water, lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and indoor and outdoor pollution, as well as injuries.
The new numbers equate to these pollutants being the cause of one in four deaths of children 1 month to 5 years old.
- 570 000 children under 5 years die from respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution, and second-hand smoke.
- 361 000 children under 5 years die due to diarrhea, as a result of poor access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.
- 270 000 children die during their first month of life from conditions, including prematurity, which could be prevented through access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene in health facilities as well as reducing air pollution.
- 200 000 deaths of children under 5 years from malaria could be prevented through environmental actions, such as reducing breeding sites of mosquitoes or covering drinking-water storage.
- 200 000 children under 5 years die from unintentional injuries attributable to the environment, such as poisoning, falls, and drowning.
Meanwhile, unpopular President Trump and other Republicans are working diligently to reverse clean water protections. Those are the facts.