NEW DELHI: Air pollution can affect brain development of more than 12 million infants in South Asia, including India, a UNICEF report said today.
The report comes at a time when Delhi and north Indian states are grappling with severe air pollution crisis.
United Nations International Children’s Education Fund India’s chief of Communication Alexandra Westerbeek said that the crisis of air pollution affects millions of Indian children.
Around 12.2 million children under one year of age are prone to “affected brain development” due to air pollution in South-Asia, the report said.
The paper ‘Danger in the Air: How air pollution can affect brain development in young children’ noted that particulate air pollution can damage brain tissues and undermine cognitive development.
It shows that air pollution, like inadequate nutrition, and stimulation and exposure to violence during critical first 1,000 days of life, can impact children’s early childhood development by affecting their growing brains.
Satellite imagery reveals that South Asia has the largest proportion of babies, 12.2 million among the global figure of 17 million babies, living in the worst affected areas where outdoor air pollution exceeds six times the international levels, the report said.
“Air pollution affects millions of India’s children, but there are all practical solutions that can make a big difference,” Westerbeek said. (AGENCIES)
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