Air pollution in Africa ticks off more life than malnutrition: Study

New Delhi: The dirty air of Africa is more deadly than unclean water and malnutrition , according to a new research from a global policy forum. The study found that every year around 7,12,000 people die prematurely in Africa due to air pollution.

Rana Roy, author of the study has pointed out that Africa is on the verge of developing a climate and health crisis similar to the one that China and India have been facing for the past two decades. In between 1990 to 2013 outdoor air pollution increased by a staggering 36 percent across Africa as a whole. 

Massive industrialization, traffic and power generation in countries like Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria have sky-rocketed the levels of outdoor air pollution. Roy is concerned about the growing pace of outdoor air pollution in Africa, bucking the downward trend in most countries. Used cars and trucks imported from rich countries are adding to urban pollution caused by household cooking on open fires, according to The Guardian.

“This mega-trend is set to continue to unfold throughout this century. It suggests that current means of transportation and energy generation in African cities are not sustainable,” said Roy. “Alternative models to those imported from industrialised economies, such as dependence on the individual automobile, are necessary.