Ahead of WHO’s air pollution and health conference, campaign groups are calling on governments across the globe to focus on addressing toxic air.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health is returning for its second year and is set to take place from 25th-27th March in Columbia.
Prior to the event, health groups are calling on world leaders to better comply with WHO’s air quality guidelines, better protecting the 99% of the planet’s population who are exposed to toxic air.
The call for action demands that decision and policy makers should ‘commit without delay’ to:
- Enforce robust measures to stop polluting the air, cutting emissions at source, and swiftly achieve the full implementation of WHO global air quality guidelines.
- Ensure just and inclusive clean energy transition and fossil fuel phase out in a fair and equitable manner.
- Strengthen actions for clean air, better monitoring and surveillance, and institutional capacity to limit air pollution and mitigate climate change.
- Increase domestic and international funding to elevate clean air as a priority on global and national health and political agendas.
- Build intersectoral workforces with the skills and capacity to design and implement policies to tackle air pollution, focusing on continuous awareness raising, training, research, and sharing best public health practices, especially in the most affected countries
Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health said: ‘Air pollution is a silent killer. On a global scale, air pollution trends remain largely unchanged in the last 10 years, impacting our health at each breath we take.
‘Leaders must make bold commitments, while the health community must continue advocating to protect our future. Join the call to action – your signature will help drive the change needed to protect public health from the growing threat of air pollution.’
More information about WHO’s conference can be found here.
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