11/19/2019, 11.42
AFGHANISTAN
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Kabul, air pollution kills more than war

In 2017 in Afghanistan the toxic air killed more than 26 thousand people; in the same year the armed conflict caused almost 3,500 victims. The worst air conditions in Kabul. The administration calls for no waste to be burned, but the poor have no other source of heating.

Kabul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In Afghanistan, air pollution causes more deaths than war. This was revealed by a study on global air conditions entitled "State of Global Air 2019" and compiled by the research group Health Effects Institute.

According to experts, in 2017 in the Asian country more than 26 thousand deaths are attributable to diseases related to what the population breathes. The same year, the United Nations reported that 3,483 victims were caused by the armed conflict.

According to the experts, the air is almost unbearable in the capital Kabul, where about 6 million inhabitants live. The pollution levels are equal to the two most polluted cities in the world, Delhi and Beijing, for years under the magnifying glass.

Smog envelops the city in a toxic blanket most of the year, due to old cars with obsolete carburetion, electric generators without environmental guarantees, bonfires of rubbish and fumes from brick factories, ovens and public toilets.

According to the study, most victims are poisoned inside the house. In fact, in the harsh winters that characterize Kabul, the cold is fought by heating homes with any material, from coal to plastic. Experts point out that the toxic particles released by combustion killed 19,400 people; not only that, air pollution has contributed to reducing life expectancy by two years and two months.

To combat toxic air, the Kabul Environmental Department has launched a program to eliminate old vehicles; at the same time, the municipality invites the population not to burn waste to heat homes, and to use fuel instead. Mohammad Kazim Humayoun, director of the department said: "The fight against pollution is as important as that of terrorism".

However, fuels and electric stoves are too expensive for most of the population, exhausted by 18 years of war. Yousuf, 60, who fled from the eastern part of the country, now lives in a refugee camp near the capital, which hosts 100 families.

 He lost five children, out of a total of 14, due to respiratory diseases, aggravated by the cold and poverty that does not allow him to treat them. "We are poor - he tells the Associated Press - we cannot afford medicines. My children go around the field and collect everything they can: paper, rags, sticks and plastic. I use them for cooking and keeping children warm ”.

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