Around the world, polluted air and water and other environment-related hazards kill more than three milion children under the age of five every year.
While industrialization, urban population growth, climate change, the increasing use of chemicals and environmental degradation expose children to risks that were unimagined a few generations ago, it is the old and largely understood basic threats that are still today responsible for killing most children: factors such as unsafe water, lack of sanitation, malaria and indoor air pollution.
Just 10% of the world's population is under five years of age, yet 40% of the environment-related disease burden falls on children in this age group. This is partly because they have a higher intake of harmful substances in relation to body weight, and partly because they have less strength and knowledge to protect themselves.
To illustrate the impact of the environment on children's health, the World Health Organization (WHO) is launching the first-ever Atlas of Children's Environmental Health and the Environment. Presented at the Fourth European Conference of Health and Environment Ministers in Budapest, Hungary, this book brings together a range of facts about the effects of environmental risks to our children's health, which, when taken together, paints a graphic picture of the hazards we all face and the reasons for over three million annual deaths in children under age five worldwide.1
"Children are the main sufferers of environmental hazards. It is unacceptable from every point of view that the most vulnerable members of a society should be the ones who pay the price for failures to protect health from environmental dangers," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, on the occasion of the launch.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration calls on governments to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate by 2015. This may be one of the most ambitious goals. "This is a wake-up call for us and for the world. The number of child deaths is alarming. It paints a dismal picture of neglect. We must face up to reality and act now to work towards a sustainable and brighter future," said Dr Kerstin Leitner, WHO Assistant Director-General for Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments.