Exposure to pollution is a major factor determining who suffers most from communicable diseases, particularly respiratory infections like COVID-19. An April 2020 study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that even small increases in exposure to air pollution were associated with higher COVID-19 death rates in the United States. During the SARS crisis, a respiratory disease outbreak similar to COVID-19, death rates were twice as high for people exposed to high levels of air pollution.
In Madagascar, air pollution affects nearly every household. Because more than 90 percent of the population relies on charcoal for cooking, the major sources of air pollution are widespread burning of forests to produce charcoal, coupled with household (usually indoor) burning of that charcoal. Outdated vehicles and low-quality diesel fuel add further pollutants.
This exposure to toxic levels of air pollution leads to high levels of illness. Rates of disability and death from heart disease and stroke in Madagascar are more than three times that of the United States. These problems are precisely the type of underlying conditions that make people most vulnerable to harmful effects of the novel coronavirus.
The virus is anticipated to have a high toll on Madagascar and other developing nations that lack extensive medical resources. Solve Pollution Madagascar is currently working to help secure supplies and improve communication and health care delivery networks to strengthen response to the outbreak.
In the long term, our mission remains critical to saving lives and improving the health of the most vulnerable people: partnering with Madagascar and other nations to solve pollution is essential to promote disease resistance and support healthy, sustainable, resilient communities.