Responding to the statement, Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, the RCP's special adviser on air quality, said: "Along with climate change, outdoor and indoor air pollution is the greatest environmental risk to health. It affects everyone, but as this statement highlights, children are particularly vulnerable, with exposure to poor air quality now the second leading risk factor for death in children under five. We also recognise that exposures early in life have serious consequences in accelerating many diseases across a person’s lifetime.

“The economic burden of air pollution, including its avoidable strain on the NHS, and the harms caused by poor indoor air quality are further evidence that decisive steps must be taken. We’re particularly supportive of RCPCH’s call for a Clean Air Act and the expansion of Awaab’s Law, both of which are vital to protecting the most vulnerable and ensuring healthier environments for all.

“The link between air pollution and health inequalities is irrefutable. People living in disadvantaged communities often face higher levels of pollution exposure and are least resilient to it. The government’s promised Health Mission Delivery Board presents a key opportunity to drive this agenda and deliver a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities that tackles the things that make us ill in the first place, like air pollution. There can be no question that cleaning up the air we all depend upon for life would prevent many diseases and save countless lives.”