Dr. Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), has today urged members to advocate for children by lobbying for better air quality among other measures.
“As a paediatrician I am increasingly worried about our children,” she said in a blog posting to members.
“A healthy childhood is fundamental to health and wellbeing over the life course. It has never been more important to take action and find every possible opportunity to make the argument for why this has to change.”
Referencing the fact there will be a general election in the U.K. within the next year she urged doctors to speak up on matters of child health, including the reduction of toxic air.
“An election is a perfect opportunity to clearly articulate the problem and then lay out the case for change,” she said, launching a manifesto calling for, among other things, the prevention of ill health among children and young people.
“I recognize that many paediatricians have no desire to get involved politically,” she acknowledged.
“I have heard paediatricians say that they are doctors, not activists,” Dr. Kingdon added.
“We do not expect anyone to undertake any work that they aren’t comfortable with. However, every one of us does need to understand the wider social determinants of health.”
Dr. Heather Lambert, a retired paediatric consultant at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne anticipated the RCPCH president’s call-to-arms by a day. She raised the issue of air pollution in a speech to councillors of Newcastle City Council on September 6.
“The World Health Organisation and the Royal colleges in the United Kingdom, and particularly my own, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, declare, based on sound scientific evidence, that air pollution is the single greatest threat to public health,” said Dr. Lambert.
“[The RCPCH] encourages children’s doctors like myself to act as role models to raise awareness regarding the impact of air pollution on population health. So I’ve got a moral and a professional obligation to speak up and to remind people of the clear evidence of the damage that air pollution does to health.
“We all need to breathe clean, safe air. We wouldn’t drink water that looks dirty but as we can often not see the pollution in air, I just don’t think we think about it as much.
“As a health professional, I believe the council has an absolute responsibility to reduce motor traffic and increase the prevalence of walking and cycling in order to promote clean air in line with government and global targets.”
Dr. Lambert welcomed low traffic neighborhoods (LTNs) as a way of “keeping polluting vehicles off residential streets.”
She continued: “Infrastructure changes which reduce reliance on [motor] vehicles are based on solid science. And when controversy arises, the medical and scientific data are there to be used.
“Seeing the anger and the petitions about measures to reduce car use in residential areas, makes me question whether people are really understanding the evidence of the harm being done, and the health benefits of change.”
In the RCPCH manifesto, launched September 7, the professional body wants members to urge politicians to commit to meet the 2005 WHO limits Air Quality Guidelines (for particulate matter (PM2.5) of no more than 10 micrograms per cubic metre) by 2030, 10 years earlier than the current UK Government’s proposal of 2040.