World Health Day is celebrated on April 7, a date that highlights the global commitment through which the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948. The purpose of this organization is to promote health, preserve the security of the world and protect people in vulnerable situations in order to ensure the well-being of all.

This year, WHO celebrates its 75th anniversary with the slogan “Health for All” with which it seeks to commemorate the achievements and successes of public health that have made it possible to improve the quality of life of the world’s population over the last seven decades and underline the need to face current and future challenges. With these goals in mind, the Organization also highlights the idea of meeting the third United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3: Good health and well-being) and the other 16 SDGs to be achieved by 2030. However, these challenges present difficulties in achieving them. In addition to the search for health as a fundamental right of every human being, there is the impact of climate change that not only affects pollution and air quality, but also people’s physical and mental health. According to the WHO, air pollution is one of the greatest environmental health risks , causing about 7 million deaths a year due to toxic levels of polluted air. The latest update of its 2022 database states that 99% of the world’s population breathes air that exceeds air quality limits and that these environmental pollutants in the form of particles cause cardiovascular, cerebrovascular (stroke) and respiratory problems. Children are one of the most vulnerable groups to this problem due to their developing physiology and expected long-term exposure. According to the Spanish Society of Paediatric Pneumology, children suffer from two-thirds of all preventable diseases due to these environmental aspects. In addition, a study led by ISGlobal highlights that 33% of new cases of childhood asthma in Europe are attributable to air pollution. Likewise, according to the WHO, poor air quality is responsible for 600,000 deaths of children worldwide every year. Bronchitis or bronchiolitis are common pathologies in paediatric consultations. Ferran Campillo, one of only two doctors in Spain specialising in environmental paediatrics, points out in Naturally, the podcast of the Biodiversity Foundation, how air quality can influence children’s health and the need to renature school environments and cities to promote more sustainable cities and healthy. In this sense, Campillo has indicated that polluted and poor quality air not only means a higher prevalence of respiratory diseases, but also affects the neurodevelopment of children. “It works as a neurotoxicant, especially when exposure is during pregnancy and the first months of life,” he said. Similarly, those who are exposed to better air quality and lower motorized traffic “have better memory-working scales at the cognitive level and better academic performance.” Therefore, “improving air quality, especially in urban areas, is a matter of equity, it would improve future opportunities among children,” he said.

Vehicle traffic in urban environments produces more than 70% of total greenhouse gas emissions, a factor that, together with environmental noise, causes serious effects on public health. Currently, more than 56% of the world’s population lives in cities and it is estimated that this will be 60% by 2030. For all these reasons, it is necessary to implement actions that contribute to improving air quality and the well-being of people in urban environments. In this sense, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), promotes projects to promote actions aimed at the renaturation and resilience of Spanish cities, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, with two calls for aid launched worth 122 million euros. Regarding the 2021 call, 18 projects are already underway with actions that aim to increase green infrastructure and the connectivity of green and blue spaces, with the aim of increasing biodiversity, adaptation to climate change, reducing pollution and, ultimately, improving the habitability and health of our cities. as well as the people who inhabit them. Currently, the Biodiversity Foundation is in the process of evaluating the 64 applications submitted to the call for aid for the renaturalization of cities corresponding to 2022, endowed with 62 million euros and whose resolution is expected by the end of the first half of 2023. As in the previous edition, and in line with the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, these initiatives seek to reinforce the role of nature in the urban development model.