Safeguarding Children's Health

Ambient air pollution is an emerging environmental issue affecting regions worldwide.

According to the State of Global Air (SOGA) Report 2024, air pollution is a major health threats to all population with 8.1 million deaths globally (12% of total global death), more than 700,000 deaths were children under five (15% of all global deaths due to air pollution), and 16,600 deaths for children on the age of 5-14 years – linked to air pollution. Children are more vulnerable to air pollution and often suffer more severe health implications due to their developing bodies and underdeveloped immunological and respiratory systems. Previous studies demonstrate the significant link between children’s health and exposure to short- and long-term air pollution. In the context of Malaysia, aside from local sources – Malaysia faces episodic regional haze due to transboundary pollution from neighbouring countries.

Therefore, this research provides a narrative review exploring the relationship between air pollution and children’s health, alongside proposing actionable solutions and interventions that are child-centric to improve air quality with a focus on haze episodes. A narrative review of recent literature, reports, and official documents was conducted using multiple databases, with no limited time frame. The keywords included “air pollution”, “PM2.5”, and “children’s/child health”.

Regardless of the sources of air pollution, whether it is due to traffic or biomass burning, children are at higher risk of health impacts. Thus, child-centric policies for air pollution need to be formulated, featuring actionable solutions. The recommended interventions include: i) enhancing monitoring and modelling of air pollution efforts through innovative research, ii) allocating more funding opportunities for air quality projects, iii) strengthening science communication towards the public, and iv) revising relevant policies, legislation, action plans, and SDG-related initiatives to include a specific headline for air pollution and children’s health impacts.

Such interventions could yield significant benefits for children’s health and well-being.

Author: Siti Irbah Anuar

Editor: Yeojin Song