“According to statistics, about 40,000 people fall victim each year due to air pollution and $12 billion in damage is inflicted on the country," Tasnim News Agency reported Health Minister Mohammadreza Zafarghandi saying on Friday.
Air pollution was one of the health concerns discussed at a meeting of the Academy of Medical Sciences on Friday, attended by Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Zafarghandi said there were three key factors that need to be addressed in the health sector - “structure, economy, and human resources” - and called for the allocation of more resources.
Air quality is a source of concern for many Iranians “since the concentrations of several pollutants have been reported to be three times higher than the national standards and air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization,” according to a 2023 study published by Science Direct.
The study by researchers at the Kashan University of Medical Sciences found that the air quality index “is relatively high in Tehran city and is above 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups/unhealthy) on average on more than 20%... of the days per year.”
Air pollution kills at least seven million people worldwide annually, according to the World Health Organization.
