On the World Environment Day on Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged Governments to focus on creating green public spaces such as parks and wetlands, citing their innumerable health benefits.
Emphasising on the connection between human health and natural and man-made environments, WHO Regional Director for South East Asia, Poonam Khetrapal Singh said rapid urbanisation was challenging the ecosystem, severely affecting physical and mental health being.
With more than a third of all people in the South East Asia Region living in towns, the poorly managed urbanisation was resulting in increased levels of ambient air pollution, contaminated food and drinking water, poor sanitation, noise pollution from traffic and cramped living conditions, Singh said.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) — many of them environment-related — account for around 8.5 million deaths in the region every year while consumption of food containing traces of heavy metals and other detritus was causing health issues including neurological and kidney damage, she said.
Contaminated water sources were contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among other effects, while a lack of space was creating a sense of physical and mental confinement. Globally, these and other environmental risks cause an estimated 12.6 million deaths a year, she said.