Air pollution and children's health

Global Action Plan’s Clean Air Day

Fortunately, our air pollution crisis is solvable and there are simple steps we can all take to help our family avoid toxic air and cut down on the pollution we emit. Traffic plays a major part in the problem, so driving less, and in cleaner vehicles, is one of the key messages of Global Action Plan’s Clean Air Day.

All the experts agree that cutting emissions can only be a good thing for our air quality problem – and for everyone’s health. 

So the campaign attempts to not only make people more aware of the dangers of air pollution – especially to vulnerable groups like children – but what we can do to tackle the problem. 

Air pollution interventions in schools

As research by Impact on Urban Health has found, the evidence for which interventions make the most difference to health is thin on the ground. 

This is one of the reasons why Global Action Plan is working on a study to understand the true impact of air pollution interventions in schools. 

What happens when you introduce car sharing on the school run? Or close off roads altogether at pick-up and drop-off times? How much difference can schools make themselves before they have to involve others, such as the local council? 

I’m lucky enough to be able to walk my children to school, and while I know they are getting exercise and we are spending quality time together, I do worry about the environment they are growing up in. 

I have seen the evidence of how air pollution is harming the next generation, and I’m longing to see things change.

It’s our job as professionals with an interest in air quality to work together to find solutions that make the most difference to health. We owe this to the next generation. They have never had a choice.