A/HRC/40/55 pollution and health indicates these may be underestimates. 8 Dependence on solid fuels, kerosene and polluting cookstoves causes more premature deaths than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.9 27. In addition, poor air quality inflicts extensive harm on workers every year, an issue that was covered in depth in a recent report by the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes (A/HRC/39/48 and Corr.1), and thus will not be further covered in the present report. 28. Hundreds of millions of people suffer from illnesses caused by poor air quality. Non-communicable diseases such as stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer have surpassed infectious diseases as the leading causes of death in the world. Air pollution is one of the five leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases globally. 29. Approximately 3 billion people continue to be exposed to household air pollution caused by burning solid fuels for cooking and heating. This includes people in Africa, South and South-East Asia and Latin America. Almost 1 billion people still rely on kerosene lamps and other polluting devices to light their homes. In poorly ventilated dwellings, levels of particulate matter can be more than 100 times acceptable levels. 10 The result is millions of preventable deaths caused by people breathing polluted air in the supposed safety of their own homes. 30. A study published in 2016 by the World Bank estimated that the global costs of air pollution exceed $5 trillion per year. 11 Unless effective solutions are implemented immediately, the shocking statistics in the present report could grow even worse, as mortality caused by air pollution could increase by 50−100 per cent by 2050. 12 C. Impacts on vulnerable populations 31. Air pollution affects everyone, causing widespread violations of the right to breathe clean air. Yet the burden of related disease has a disproportionate impact on certain vulnerable populations. Among the most severely harmed are women, children, the elderly, minorities, indigenous peoples and members of traditional communities, people living in poverty, people with pre-existing health conditions such as respiratory conditions or heart disease and people who fall into several of these categories. 32. Women can be vulnerable to air pollution in particular situations. In States where household air pollution is prevalent, women suffer the highest levels of exposure because of their primary role in cooking. Women and girls often spend many hours each week gathering fuel for cooking and heating, which deprives them of educational and economic opportunities and raises the risks of injury and violence. 13 33. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the adverse impacts of poor air quality due to physiological, behavioural and environmental factors. 14 Their developing brains and bodies are exquisitely sensitive to toxic substances and they have longer life expectancy, so that 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 6 R. Burnett and others, “Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, No. 38 (18 September 2018), pp. 9592–597. World Bank, The State of the Global Clean and Improved Cooking Sector, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program Technical Report 007/15 (Washington, D.C., 2015). WHO, Burning Opportunity. World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, The Cost of Air Pollution: Strengthening the Economic Case for Action (Washington, D.C., 2016). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction (Paris, 2012), pp. 275–278. WHO, Burning Opportunity. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Clear the Air for Children: The Impact of Air Pollution on Children (New York, 2016); WHO, Don’t Pollute My Future! The Impact of the Environment on Children’s Health (2017).