More young kids are dying from pollution

A woman and her child wearing masks walking along a dusty road in Kathmandu, Nepal. An estimated 570,000 children under five die each year from respiratory infections such as pneumonia, which are attributable to air pollution and second-hand smoke, reports have found. Photo: Reuters

More than one in four deaths in children under five are linked to polluted environments, according to two new World Health Organization (WHO) reports published recently.

Each year, environmental risks such as indoor and outdoor pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water and poor sanitation kill around 1.7 million children between the ages of one month and five years, the reports found.