According to the WHO, the World Health Organisation, almost 23% of deaths have environmental causes; 36 % for children under 14 years old (1). The environmental risk factors play an important part in almost 80% of illnesses.
In developing countries, this mainly corresponds to problems linked to insalubrity and transmissible diseases. Indeed, malaria and diarrhoeal illnesses (like cholera) alone kill several million people every year. But the number of mosquitoes which spread the first disease can be reduced through sanitation and environmental measures and risks of the second can be considerably reduced by appropriate access to drinking water. According to the WHO, over 40% of deaths linked to malaria and about 94% of deaths caused by diarrhoeal illnesses could be avoided by better environmental management in less developed regions. (4)
Fukushima radiation mostly within accepted levels: WHO
'Natural causes' blamed for Peru dolphin deaths
Race to save the devil Down Under
UNEP
The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise... ![]()