Living close to busy roads puts your health at risk.

Air pollution from vehicles and dust can harm everyone but especially:

• Babies and young children
• Pregnant women
• Elderly people
• Anyone with asthma, TB, heart or lung problems

View the complete Breathe Safely Near Busy Roads  - Flyer

Air pollution is a serious health risk — especially for unborn babies and infants

Breathing polluted air during pregnancy can increase the risk of low birth weight, premature birth, developmental delays, and in severe cases even miscarriage or stillbirth. Infants exposed to polluted air are more likely to develop asthma and other lung diseases, infections like pneumonia and have poor brain development and learning challenges.

Background: What is Air Pollution?

Air pollution refers to the presence of harmful substances in the air we breathe. These include gases (like nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide), particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which originate from vehicles, industry, burning of waste, household fuel use, and natural sources like dust and veld fires.

View the Sun protection: How to avoid being caught out | The BMJ Infographic on the BMJ website.

Antonio Gasparrini is a Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology based at the Department of Department of Social & Environmental Health Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the United Kingdom (U.K.).

Key messages

Reducing open waste burning is essential for achieving clean air, clean energy access, climate change mitigation and health and well-being. Globally, over 2 billion tonnes of waste are produced annually. Household waste usually comprises a variety of materials including glass, plastics, metals, cardboard, paper, polystyrene, and organic matter such as food and garden waste. Infrequently, demolition waste, household chemicals or tyres may be included. Open waste burning may occur at major landfills, small or remote dumpsites, individual households or in streets.

Bio: Sari Kovats is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, Environments and Society at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Sari has a PhD in environmental epidemiology and her research interests are primarily on methods to assess the health impacts of climate change and to generate evidence for adaptation planning in public health. She has worked on a range of (observational) studies on climate/weather to quantify their impacts on health and developed frameworks for the assessment of future climate change impacts on human health.

Noah Scovronick is a Rollins Distinguished Associate Professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, GA, USA. Dr. Scovronick directs Emory’s MPH Certificate in Climate and Health and is Deputy Director of Emory’s federally funded Climate and Health Actionable Research and Translation Center (CHART). He works on a range of topics related to climate change, including epidemiological studies of climate-sensitive health risks, the quantification of the health impacts of climate mitigation policies, and issues around exposure to hazardous substances.