Every 10 minutes, five people die due to air pollution in Pakistan. These are preventable deaths that underline the scale of the public health emergency facing cities and rural communities alike. Addressing air pollution is now a matter of urgent health policy and community protection.
WHO has joined Pakistani authorities and local and international partners at the international conference The Air We Breathe in Lahore to discuss how to tackle this health crisis together. Delegates are exchanging strategies to reduce exposure, improve health system responses, and align policy action across sectors, with an emphasis on practical measures that can be implemented at the city and provincial levels.
Participants stressed that meaningful progress on air pollution requires coordinated action, better monitoring, and stronger public health interventions to protect vulnerable populations. The conference in Lahore aims to transform these discussions into concrete steps that will help prevent further avoidable deaths and improve health outcomes across Pakistan.
