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Air Pollution and Children’s Health: Living in Urban Areas in Developing Countries

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Health in Ecological Perspectives in the Anthropocene

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Abstract

Outdoor air pollution is an increasing risk to children, who are physiologically vulnerable to air pollution. According to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 2 billion children around the world live in areas where outdoor pollution exceeds minimum air-quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Among them, 300 million children are exposed to toxic levels of outdoor air pollution, and those living in low- and middle-income countries are most at risk. Outdoor air pollution is linked not only with mortality in children, but also with an array of adverse health outcomes, including the respiratory health-related conditions such as pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis, as well as with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and metabolic diseases. In this chapter, the adverse effects of outdoor air pollution exposure in children in terms of different health outcomes is discussed, especially in the context of urban areas in developing countries. As evidence is lacking from those areas, more air quality monitoring and more research on air pollution are essential to protect the children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    S. Tasmin

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  1. Department of Food, Life and Environmental Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan

    Toru Watanabe

  2. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Chiho Watanabe

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Tasmin, S. (2019). Air Pollution and Children’s Health: Living in Urban Areas in Developing Countries. In: Watanabe, T., Watanabe, C. (eds) Health in Ecological Perspectives in the Anthropocene. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2526-7_4

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