Good Government and the Fight Against Air Pollution’s Mortal Threat

When we think of our personal health, we tend to focus on things like giving up tobacco and alcohol and ensuring good sanitation and cleanliness. Air pollution is not at the top of the list, but it belongs there. It is the greatest single external risk to health, reducing life expectancy by a global average of 2.3 years, according to the University of Chicago’s 2023 Air Quality Life Index. 

More than 96% of Latin America’s population is exposed to PM 2.5 or fine particulate matter, that exceeds the World Health Organization’s guidelines, according to the Index. PM 2.5 comes from common sources like cars, factories, and wildfires, and contributes to everything from respiratory infections and heart problems to cancer. But there are some hotspots of such inhalable pollution that are worse than others. In Mixco, Guatemala, for example, where air pollution is roughly 10 times the World Health Organization suggested limit, residents lose 4.4 years of their life to air pollution, while that stands at 3.1 years in Cercado, Bolivia and 2.5 years in Porto Velho, Brazil, according to the Index.

The Effect of Labor Informality

Unsurprisingly, the poor often suffer the most from PM 2.5 pollution. As revealed in a 2022 IDB study, informal workers—those who generally work for small, unregistered companies—generally work 20% more than formal workers at established firms on days of dangerous air quality in Mexico City. Recent hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in the city have been driven by municipalities with large percentages of informal workers. To make things worse, informal workers often lack flexibility in their work schedules and access to sick leave, with fewer opportunities to make up for days when they cannot work due to heavy pollution or pollution-related illnesses. This exacerbates income inequalities and feeds into desperation over dirty air. Nearly 95% of respondents in a 2019 survey of about 2000 households in lower-income neighborhoods of Mexico City said air pollution was a “problem” or a “big problem.”

Such predicaments demand solutions. But lack of trust stands as a major obstacle. Less than one in three people trust their government in Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the lowest levels in the world. That means in practice that although many people in the region know that air pollution is harmful, they may not trust that their government has the capacity and the commitment to implement effective long-term solutions and may fail to back government-led initiatives, even when well-conceived. Read more…