Colombia Perspective: Air Pollution
Click here for information in spanish.
Background
According to a study for the World Bank, air pollution kills 15,000 Colombians every year. But only about 8,000 of these deaths are from the outdoor pollution that we normally worry about, particularly in cities. 7,000 result from household air pollution, caused by cooking and heating with wood and other solid fuels. This affects mainly rural communities.
In both cities and countryside, the cause is the same: tiny particles in smoke which we breathe in and which can lead to chronic lung disease and acute respiratory infections, lung cancer, heart disease and strokes. This does not just affect Latin America, but is a global problem causing over 6 million deaths worldwide each year.[ii]
In Colombia, outdoor air pollution is a real problem, causing about one in 20 of all deaths in the metropolitan areas of Bogota, Valle de Aburra and Cali. But for rural dwellers the situation is much worse; household air pollution is responsible for an alarming 17% of all deaths. More than one in every six deaths is caused by burning wood and solid fuels to cook food and keep warm.
The most dangerous of the airborne particle are known as PM2.5 (particulates less than 2.5 thousandths of a millimetre across) which can penetrate deep into the lung. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a limit for average outdoor ambient air pollution of 10 micrograms (10 millionth of a gram) of PM2.5 per cubic metre of air (10 µg/m3). In urban areas, the level may be twice this, and over 60% of the Colombian population is estimated to breathe air which is more polluted than the WHO guideline[iii]
