World Health Organization: Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments

Now for some bad news: "As much as 24% of global disease is caused by environmental exposures which can be averted [...] more than 33% of disease in children under the age of 5 is caused by environmental exposures. Preventing environmental risk could save as many as four million lives a year in children alone, mostly in developing countries. [...] The report estimates that more than 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Nearly one third of death and disease in the least developed regions is due to environmental causes. Over 40% of deaths from malaria and an estimated 94% of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases, two of the world's biggest childhood killers, could be prevented through better environmental management." These figures come from a World Health Organization report titled Preventing disease through healthy environments - towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease and remind us of the very real costs of not living in harmony with nature and not dealing with poverty. Each of us, lets be part of the solution. ::Preventing disease through healthy environments: Towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease, ::Almost a quarter of all disease caused by environmental exposure, ::Video message by Dr Maria Neira, Director, Public Health and Environment, World Health Organization