CAAI sign the “Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air” at the United Nations
While escalators and walk-outs grabbed the headlines during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly last month, the inaugural, high-level side event on Indoor Air Quality was taking place. The event, “Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action”, was co-sponsored by France and Montenegro, and brought together global leaders, policymakers, scientists, and health experts, to highlight and discuss the importance of healthy indoor air.
Dr. Bronwyn King of the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, one of the main organisers of the event, stated that “airborne diseases and pollutants may be invisible, but their impact is undeniable. As global populations spend around 90% of time indoors, access to clean and healthy indoor air is no longer optional—it’s essential.”
Indoor air pollution represents a major public health crisis. It not only causes more than three million premature deaths each year, but also exacerbates a wide range of chronic and acute health conditions, from respiratory illnesses, like Covid, Flu and RSV, but also long-term and often irreversilbe illnesses, from cardiovascular disease to cognitive decline and impaired learning outcomes. Indoor air pollution and the health conditions it causes affects everyone, regardless of age or health.
Clean Air Advocacy Ireland was a partner of the event, and Dr. Ciara Steele and Sinead O’Brien were invited to attend as representatives of CAAI, along with 330 other delegates from around the world and 170 signatories to the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air. This is the first international effort to formally recognise clean indoor air as a basic human right, one that is essential for the health and well-being of everyone.
Dr. Steele said of the event, “It was an honour to sign the global pledge for Healthy Indoor Air alongside such esteemed scientists, policymakers, and advocates. We now call on the Irish Government to join Montenegro and France in signing the pledge and to build on our own experience with the indoor smoking ban in making clean indoor air accessible for all.”
Ms. O’Brien said, “It was positive and encouraging to meet so many experts and advocates who are making real progress in improving indoor air in their communities. As Violet Affleck stated in her speech, long covid is now more common in children under 5 than asthma. Children have smaller lungs, breathe more quickly and as such are more vulnerable to air pollution than adults. Cleaning the air in classrooms seems like an impactful place to start.”
To view recordings of speeches from the UN Healthy Indoor Air event and to view and sign the pledge, visit https://www.airclub.org/
