new delhi longterm exposure to air pollution contributed to around 67 million deaths globally from stroke heart attack diabetes lung cancer chronic lung diseases and neonatal diseases in 2019 with china 18 million and india 16 million together accounting for more than half of such deaths says the annual state of global air 2020 report released on wednesdaywhile stating that air pollution is globally the fourth highest cause of death the report says it is the largest risk factor for deaths for india followed by high blood pressure the report however notes the success of the pradhan mantri ujjwala yojana household lpg programme saying it helped dramatically expand access to clean energy especially for rural households and helped reduce household air pollution exposure overall air pollution is now the fourth highest cause of death among all health riskssaid the reporttimes viewpollution has emerged as one of the biggest slowandsilent killers of our time efforts to ensure safe air must be undertaken on a war footing the report underscores the urgency to prioritise this need there is also a need to recognise that there is no magic bullet here that can solve the problem instead it will need a range of steps to deal with different sources of pollutionair pollution is now the fourth highest cause of death among all health risks ranking just below high bp tobacco use and poor diet said the report released by the health effects institute an independent nonprofit research institute funded jointly by the us environmental protection agency industry foundations and development bankswhile the report identifies air pollution as the top risk factor for india the indian government has in the past rejected numerical estimates saying that though studies have identified such pollution as a cause or contributory factor for illhealth making projections or establishing direct linkages for deaths lacks sufficient evidence the hei which for the first time did a comprehensive analysis of air pollutions global impact on the newborn found that outdoor and household particulate matter pollution contributed to the deaths of nearly 500000 infants globally including 116000 infants in india in their first month of lifethe report noted that nearly twothirds of those deaths were linked to use of solid fuels like charcoal wood and animal dung for cooking saying the most deaths for the youngest infants were related to complications from low birth weight and preterm birth though it said indias national clean air programme has spurred action on air pollution sources across india it said the levels were still stagnant for outdoor pm 25 it noted that over half of these deaths in india were associated with outdoor pm25this evidence is a reminder of continuous worsening of health risk from air pollution in india not only the absolute death burden from pm 25 is high but it has also increased the maximum by as much as 61 between 2010 and 2019 said anumita roychowdhury air pollution expert and executive director of the centre for science and environment the interaction