Environment impacts on child death rate

Annually more than three million deaths are registered in children under five years of age due to causes and conditions related to the environment, reports Gustavo Copelmayer.

“The environment is, therefore, one of the factors that decisively influences the unfortunate world figure of ten million child deaths annually and the health and well-being of mothers,” says Gustavo Copelmayer, citing the report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But what are the factors that impact this population? Contaminated indoor and outdoor water and air, lack of adequate sanitation, toxicity risks, disease vectors, ultraviolet radiation, and degraded ecosystems are significant environmental risk factors for children, and in most cases for their mothers too, says Gustavo Copelmayer.

Risks and environmental pollution contribute very significantly to mortality in relation to the proportion of the number of childhood diseases associated with climate change, such as lead in the air, mercury in food, as well as other harmful chemical substances, which even affect children before birth.

Education is one of the decisive factors to fight environmental risks. If families receive the information, they become aware of the environmental risks present in their homes and in their communities, which translates into better prepared families who are ready to adopt measures that reduce or eliminate exposure and create the demand for relevant improvements from governments, states, counties, neighborhoods and their own communities and families, concludes Gustavo Copelmayer.