Health effects of indoor air quality on children and young people

Air pollution is the environmental public health problem of our time. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out clear guidance to protecting the rights of children and young people, including a child's right to the best possible health (Article 24) and the right to a good standard of living. Unicef also consider that clean air is a right for all children. The UK Royal Medical Colleges vigorously advocate for a healthy environment at the population level and in local communities, especially where socio-economic circumstances limit the choice of where people can live, and which school children attend. Despite substantial progress in understanding outdoor air pollution, the potential risk to health, especially that of children and young people, from the indoor air has been largely overlooked, yet in modern times, the indoor environment has never been more important as lockdown with the Covi-19 virus pandemic has shown us. Here we provide an abridged version of the RCPCH/RCP Report The inside story: Health effects of indoor air quality on children and young people but without the section on recommendations. The full Report along with recommendations, released on 28 January 2020, can be accessed at https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/inside-story-health-effects-indoor-air-quality-children-young-people. While we recognise that some aspects of this commentary are UK specific, much of the content has wide implications.