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Smoking as a habit is often frowned upon, it is horrible for your lungs and those of people around you. However, as per a new study, there's something even worse for your health - Air pollution.

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The study released on Tuesday (August 29th) found that the global epicentre of this threat is South Asia.

Study findings

As per the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) findings, in spite of the massive threat, the funding set aside to confront the challenge of air pollution is just a fraction of the amount earmarked for fighting infectious diseases.

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However, as per EPIC's annual Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report, fine particulate air pollution is the “greatest external threat to public health.”

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Fine particulate matter, which comes from vehicle and industrial emissions, wildfires and more, has been linked to lung disease, heart disease, strokes, and cancer.

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South Asia suffers

Globally, South Asia is the worst affected, with India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal emerging as the top four countries with the highest levels of air pollution, specifically in terms of annualised, population-weighted averages of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5. These particles have a diameter of 2.5 microns or fewer.

How much air pollution takes from us

AFP reports that if the global air pollution levels were to be reduced to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended levels, on average, every person would add 2.3 years to their life expectancy. That means air pollution is stealing around 27.6 months from our lives.

In comparison, tobacco reduces a person's life expectancy by 2.2 years (26.4 months). Even maternal malnutrition, a major problem in itself, only cuts about 1.6 years (19.2 months) from a person's life.

As per the report, there is an international financing partnership called the Global Fund which annually disburses $4 billion to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. There is no equivalent initiative specifically targeting air pollution.

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The report emphasises that “air pollution shaves off more years from the average person's life in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Cameroon than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other health threats.”

Talking to AFP, Christa Hasenkopf, the director of air quality programmes at EPIC, highlighted the significant gap between the areas most affected by air pollution and the allocation of resources to address the issue and said, “There is a profound disconnect with where air pollution is the worst and where we, collectively and globally, are deploying resources to fix the problem.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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