Via DAWNS Digest.
The World’s Top Killer is the Air You Breathe: The World Health Organization reports that about 7 million people died in 2012 as a result of air pollution. To put it another way: one in eight total premature deaths around the world is caused by exposure to poisons in the air. Who is dying? Mostly women and children, and mostly in the developing world. Where is the pollution coming from? About 4 million of the deaths are linked to exposure to indoor air pollution caused by dirty-burning cookstoves used in the home. The remainder is from outdoor air pollution. The WHO says most people are exposed to a toxic combination of both. How are they dying? From strokes, heart disease and respiratory illness. Take a Deeper Dive: World Health Organization’s report: http://bit.ly/OX3vpx
Ebola Watch: Has it spread to Liberia? Five patients have died in Liberia of suspected Ebola fever, the government said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1msVwij) The WHO says 56 people out of 89 cases–all so far in Guinea — are confirmed to have died from Ebola.
The Rundown
Polio returns to Iraq…(thanks to war in Syria) Health officials in Iraq are stepping up polio immunization and surveillance following the first confirmed case in more than a decade. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1l15DId)
Investigative reporting helped police in Ghana to break up a forced prostitution ring and rescue six Vietnamese women. (VOA http://bit.ly/1msOPMW)
Friends and relatives of the four men killed in CAR over the weekend are asking why peacekeepers are not stationed between their community and a neighboring hostile district. (VOA http://bit.ly/1l13Zq3)
UNHCR and WFP appealed on behalf of partners and themselves for $371 million for the thousands of South Sudanese refugees arriving in neighboring countries. (UNHCR http://bit.ly/1l14kJ3)
With around 1,000 South Sudanese refugees streaming into western Ethiopia every week, relief workers and agencies warn of an imminent humanitarian crisis. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1msQzpH)
Image credit: Alex Kamweru/UN Foundation