世衛組織稱80%城鎮居民呼吸的空氣不安全

More than 80% of people living in urban areas are exposed to unsafe air quality, according to a report released by the World Health Organization Thursday.

"Urban air pollution continues to rise at an alarming rate, wreaking havoc on human health," WHO Director of Public Health and Environmental Policy Dr. Maria Neira said in the report. "At the same time, awareness is rising and more cities are monitoring their air quality."

In the past two years, the WHO's database of cities monitoring air pollution has nearly doubled - now covering 3000 cities in 103 countries.

The WHO warned of the serious affects poor air quality could have on the health of urban residents, linking it to risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases including asthma.

The report also showed that low- and middle-income countries generally have poorer air quality. 98% of cities with 100,000 or more inhabitants in low- and middle-income countries do not meet WHO air quality guidelines, while 56% in high-income countries fail to meet the standard.世界衛生組織星期四發表的一份報告說，80%以上的城鎮地區居民呼吸的空氣不安全。

世衛組織的公共衛生及環境政策主管內拉博士在報告中指出，城鎮地區的空氣污染程度正在以令人擔憂的速度增長，嚴重危害人體健康。

在以往兩年裏，世衛組織的城鎮空氣污染監督數據庫擴大了將近一倍，目前已覆蓋103個國家的3000個城鎮。

世衛組織警告說，空氣污染會對城鎮居民健康造成嚴重影響，可能導致中風、心臟病、肺癌以及包括哮喘在內的慢性和急性呼吸道疾病。

世衛組織的報告顯示，中低收入國家的空氣污染程度更嚴重。在中低收入國家，98%的10萬人口以上城市的空氣質量沒有達到世衛組織的安全標準，而在高收入國家，空氣質量沒有達標的10萬人口以上城市只有56%。