Research by Mums For Lung has found that the number of children visiting hospitals with breathing difficulties has fallen by 22% within Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone. Hospitals outside the CAZ however, have seen that figure rise by 16%.
In June, clean air campaign group Mums For Lungs revealed that in London, over 400 children a day are hospitalised with breathing difficulties. They have now conducted similar research into the situation in Birmingham, and uncovered a similarly bleak picture.
In London they found that the hospital with the most admissions – The West Middlesex Hospital – was outside the Ultra Low Emission Zone (although it was subsequently brought into the expanded iteration at the end of August).
The research in Birmingham covered the first full year of the city’s own Clean Air Zone, which was launched in July 2021.
A Freedom of Information request found that admissions figures for children below the age of five with serious breathing problems at Birmingham Children’s Hospital – which is within the Zone – fell 22%, from 1,382 to 1,080 across that time.
Outside the Clean Air Zone however, the situation is less rosy, with admissions rising by 16% in just one year.
Overall, the total figure of at least 4,765 children hospitalised during the year represents a 4% increase on the previous year. Birmingham Heartlands Hospital had the highest number of admissions at nearly 2,000.
Mums for Lungs have been campaigning around the city, hanging up their ‘Clean Air Now’ baby grows in areas suffering from levels of pollution that breach World Health Organization standards.
Kirsten de Vos, a parent who lives in Moseley said: ‘It’s completely unacceptable that so many of our children are being hospitalised because of the toxic air we have to breathe. Children’s health should be a priority for the Council and more school streets, an extension of the Clean Air Zone and diesel surcharging are needed. Not only would this be a real relief for children who are struggling to breathe, it could potentially save our local NHS significant amounts of resources.’
Monitors in outer Birmingham continue to show high levels of NO2, with Defra modelling suggesting the concentration of NO2 in Birmingham’s air is up to 50% higher than it should be.
Prasad Nagakumar, Paediatric Respiratory Consultant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital said: ‘Air pollution is a major driver of both acute and chronic respiratory illnesses in children. Implementing measures to reduce pollution will significantly decrease respiratory morbidity and ease the burden on acute health services.’