The UN health body has found that every year 93 per cent of world’s children under 15 and nearly 630 million children under 5 breathe toxic air which increases their future risk of disease and leads to lifelong consequences.

“A child who is exposed to unsafe levels of pollution early in life can thus suffer a “life sentence” of illness”, says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Children are more susceptible to the damaging health effects of household air pollution as they breathe polluted air faster than adults while playing outside and engaging in physical activities.

Most notably, air pollution adversely influences children’s lung function, neurodevelopment leading to autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and increases the risk of children for developing asthma and childhood leukaemia, the WHO said.

Also, the WHO study revealed the link between the exposure to toxic air in pregnancy and low birth weight and premature birth which accounts for about 4.2 million premature deaths in 2016.

According to the WHO, household air pollution from cooking, which involves the use of polluting fuels and technologies, causes more severe health problems in low and middle-income countries “affecting 83% of the population in the African Region, 59% in the South-East Asia Region and 42% in the Western Pacific Region”.

To curb the emissions of dangerous pollutants, the WHO recommends switching to clean cooking and heating fuels and to renewable and zero-emission energy sources, as well as advancing clean transportation and better waste management.

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