Poor air quality associated with impaired visual cognition in first two years of life
Efforts to improve air quality could have positive impacts on the emerging cognitive abilities of infants, according to a recent study published in the journal eLife. The research, led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with Durham University, the Community Empowerment Lab in Lucknow (India) and Brown University (US), found that poor air quality was associated with impaired visual cognition in the first two years of life.
The study’s findings suggest that improving air quality could lead to a cascade of positive impacts, such as improved economic productivity in the long term and a reduced burden on healthcare and mental health systems. One key factor the team measured was the cooking fuel commonly used at home, with air quality found to be poorer in homes that used solid cooking materials like cow dung cake.
As a result, efforts to reduce cooking emissions in homes have been identified as a key target for intervention. The Indian government has launched a national-level flagship program called the “Ujjwala Yojana” to address this issue, which brings LPG fuel to women below the poverty line across the entire country.
The study’s publication was based on research funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The authors note that the findings and conclusions contained within the publication are their own and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.