(Eagle News) — 99 percent, almost the entire global population, breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality limits and this threatens their health.

A record number of over 6000 cities in 117 countries are now monitoring air quality.

Despite this, the people living in them are still breathing unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.

People in low and middle-income countries suffer the highest exposures.

The findings have prompted WHO to highlight the importance of curbing fossil fuel use and taking other tangible steps to reduce air pollution levels.

In an effort to help countries better evaluate the healthiness of their own air, WHO last year revised its Air Quality Guidelines, making them more stringent.

April 7 is World Health Day. The event will focus global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being.

WHO estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes.

(Eagle News Service)