More Than 9 in 10 People Breathe Bad Air, W.H.O. Study Says

周二,，重度污染造成的霧霾,，讓香港的天際線模糊不清,。

HONG KONG — The World Health Organization said Tuesday that 92 percent of people breathe what it classifies as unhealthy air, in another sign that atmospheric pollution is a significant threat to global public health.

香港——世界衛(wèi)生組織（World Health Organization,，簡稱WHO）周二稱,，根據(jù)其標準,，世界上92%的人呼吸著不健康的空氣。這再度表明,，大氣污染對全球公眾健康構(gòu)成了重大威脅,。

A new report, the W.H.O.’s most comprehensive analysis so far of outdoor air quality worldwide, also said about three million deaths a year — mostly from cardiovascular, pulmonary and other noncommunicable diseases — were linked to outdoor air pollution. Nearly two-thirds of those deaths are in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region, compared with 333,000 in Europe and the Americas, the report said.

WHO新發(fā)布的一份研究報告還說，每年約有300萬例死亡——死因多為心血管病,、肺病以及其他非傳染性疾病——與室外空氣污染有關(guān),。WHO在報告中對世界各地的空氣質(zhì)量做了迄今為止最全面的分析。報告稱,，相關(guān)死亡案例有將近三分之二發(fā)生在東南亞和西太平洋地區(qū),，相比之下，歐洲和美洲共發(fā)生33.3萬例,。

“When you look out through the windows in your house or apartment, you don’t see the tiny little particles that are suspended in the air, so the usual perception is that the air is clean,” Rajasekhar Balasubramanian, an air quality expert at the National University of Singapore who was not involved in the study, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

“透過自家房子或公寓的窗戶往外望,，你看不見空氣中懸浮的微小顆粒，所以常常以為空氣很干凈,，”與該報告無關(guān)的新加坡國立大學空氣質(zhì)量專家拉賈塞卡·巴拉蘇布拉馬尼安(Rajasekhar Balasubramanian)周二接受電話采訪時說,。

“But the W.H.O. report is a clear indication that even in the absence of air pollution episodes, the concentrations of particles suspended in the air do exceed what’s considered to be acceptable from a health viewpoint,” he said.

“但WHO的報告清楚地表明，即便是在沒發(fā)生空氣污染事件的情況下，從健康角度看,，空氣中懸浮顆粒的濃度也的確超出了被認為是可接受的程度,，”他說。

In previous studies, the W.H.O. estimated that more than eight in 10 people in urban areas that monitored air pollution were breathing unhealthy air and that about seven million deaths a year were linked to indoor and outdoor pollution.

WHO以前的報告曾估計,，在空氣污染受到監(jiān)測的城市地區(qū)，每十個人里有八個呼吸著不健康的空氣,；此外,，每年約有700萬例死亡與室內(nèi)外污染有關(guān)。

The new study reduced the second estimate to 6.5 million deaths. But María P. Neira, director of the W.H.O.’s Department of Public Health and Environment, said in a telephone interview that “the trends are still going in the wrong direction.”

在這份新報告中,，第二個數(shù)字被減少為650萬例,。但WHO公共衛(wèi)生與環(huán)境司司長瑪麗亞·P·內(nèi)拉(María P. Neira)接受電話采訪時說，情況“還在朝著錯誤的方向發(fā)展”,。

“Somebody has to pay for those health systems to sustain the treatment and the care for those chronic patients, and this is something that countries need to balance when they make decisions about the sources of energy they are selecting or the choices they make in terms of public transport,” Dr. Neira said. “These economic costs of health have to be part of the equation.”

“得有人為那些醫(yī)療衛(wèi)生系統(tǒng)買單,，以便讓那些慢性病人得到治療和護理。這是各個國家進行能源選擇方面的決策,，或者做出公共交通方面的抉擇時,，需要綜合考量的因素之一，”內(nèi)拉說,?！斑@些與公共衛(wèi)生有關(guān)的經(jīng)濟成本，必須成為方程式的一個因子,?！?/p>

The W.H.O. study was conducted by dozens of scientists over 18 months and was based on data collected from satellites, air-transport models and ground monitors in more than 3,000 urban and rural locations, agency officials said Tuesday.

WHO官員周二稱，這項研究是由數(shù)十名科學家花費逾18個月的時間完成的,，所依據(jù)的數(shù)據(jù)源自衛(wèi)星測量,，大氣輸送模型以及覆蓋3000多個城鄉(xiāng)地點的地面監(jiān)測器。

The agency defined unhealthy air as having concentrations of fine particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, above 10 micrograms per cubic meter, or 35.3 cubic feet, but it did not measure concentrations of ozone, nitrous oxide or other harmful pollutants.

WHO將不健康的空氣定義為：空氣中的細顆粒物,，即PM2.5的濃度在每立方米（或每35.3立方英尺）10毫克以上,。但它并未衡量臭氧、一氧化二氮以及其他有害污染物的濃度,。

The study said that major drivers of global air pollution included inefficient energy use and transportation but that nonhuman factors, such as dust storms, also played a role.

報告稱,，導致全球空氣污染的主要因素包括效率低下的能源使用和交通運輸方式，但一些非人為因素,，比如沙塵暴,，也發(fā)揮了作用。

Professor Balasubramanian said it was an open question whether countries in Southeast Asia, a region that has densely packed cities and struggles to combat cross-border pollution, would choose to improve urban air quality by switching to cleaner fuels in their power plants, as Western European countries did several decades ago.

有著高密度城市的東南亞地區(qū),，目前正竭力對抗跨境污染,。巴拉蘇布拉馬尼安教授稱，東南亞國家是否會選擇像數(shù)十年前的西歐國家那樣，為了改善城市空氣質(zhì)量,，轉(zhuǎn)而使用清潔燃料發(fā)電,，還是一個懸而未決的問題。

Prolonging the decisions will probably increase the health risk from air pollution, he said, because the region’s population is rising and demanding more energy.

他說,，拖延做決定的時間很可能讓源于空氣污染的健康風險升高,，因為該地區(qū)的人口正在增長，對能源的需求也與日俱增,。