Good environment vital for our health
Media Release - University of Auckland - 16 March 2016
A global report showing the environment is responsible for one in four deaths is relevant to New Zealand's disease
burden, according to Professor Alistair Woodward.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) study cites living and working in an unhealthy environment causes around 13 million
deaths globally each year.
Air and water pollution, climate change, roads and housing are all major contributors.
Professor Alistair Woodward from the University of Auckland says that while the bulk of the problem lies in China and
India, it’s relevant to New Zealand too.
“Our burden of disease and injury due to the environment is smaller than most, but is not negligible,” says Professor
Woodward who is head of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University’s School of Population Health.
“About 1100 deaths a year are due to air pollution in this country, more than 300 deaths a year in road crashes, and
thousands of avoidable episodes of illness each year are caused by cold, damp housing,” he says.
“Dealing with air pollution is the most pressing challenge world-wide,” says Professor Woodward. “And this means
switching from dirty coal based industry to cleaner energy sources, providing alternatives to motor vehicles for
transportation, and making clean home heating affordable for everyone.”
“This is a global report and the great bulk of the problem lies in low and medium income countries,” he says. “Most of
the seven million deaths a year caused by air pollution occur in China, India and other countries that are rapidly
industrialising.”
He says these global one in four death numbers are large, but the pattern is changing. Deaths caused by poor water and
sanitation are falling and malaria is being controlled, but air pollution is getting bigger and bigger as an issue.
“The deaths, by and large, are preventable. We know what needs to be done in most instances, but it is a matter of
putting known solutions into practice, “ says Professor Woodward.
"A healthy environment underpins a healthy population," says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. "If countries do not
take actions to make environments where people live and work healthy, millions will continue to become ill and die too
young."
Deaths from infectious diseases related to poor water, sanitation and waste management, have declined in the past 10
years, but deaths due to non-communicable diseases, attributable to air pollution, have increased.
Stroke, heart disease, cancers and chronic respiratory disease now amount to nearly two-thirds of the total deaths
caused by unhealthy environments.
"There's an urgent need for investment in strategies to reduce environmental risks in our cities, homes and workplaces,"
says Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.
"Such investments can significantly reduce the rising worldwide burden of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases,
injuries and cancers, and lead to immediate savings in healthcare costs."
Regionally, the report finds, low and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had
the largest environment-related disease burden in 2012, with a total of 7.3 million deaths, most attributable to indoor
and outdoor air pollution.
2.2 million deaths annually in African Region
847,000 deaths annually in Region of the Americas
854,000 deaths annually in Eastern Mediterranean Region
1.4 million deaths annually in European Region
3.8 million deaths annually in South-East Asia Region
3.5 million deaths annually in Western Pacific Region
Top causes of environment-related deaths
1. Stroke (2.5 million deaths annually)
2. Ischaemic heart disease (2.3 million deaths annually)
3. Unintentional Injuries (e.g. road traffic deaths) (1.7 million deaths annually)
4. Cancers (1.7 million deaths annually)
5. Chronic Respiratory Diseases (1.4 million deaths annually)
6. Diarrhoeal Diseases (846,000 deaths annually)
7. Respiratory Infections (567,000 deaths annually)
8. Neonatal Conditions (270,000 deaths annually)
9. Malaria (259,000 deaths annually)
10. Intentional injuries (e.g. suicides) (246,000 deaths annually)
ENDS