The worst nightmare for any parent must surely be the death of their child.

That’s what happened to Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah in 2014 when her beloved nine-year-old daughter Ella Roberta died. Ella’s death became even more tragic since a second coroner’s inquest in 2020 found it was the very air that she was breathing that killed her.

Ella Roberta became the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as her cause of death.

Rosamund and her family lived within 25 metres from one of the busiest roads in the UK. What Rosamund discovered was that air pollution levels around her home have persistently been far above the WHO guidelines.

That meant every time Ella Roberta went to school or played outside, she was breathing the noxious fumes that would eventually take her life.

Rosamund says while Ella’s death is unique, her experience is shockingly common. In too many countries, air pollution exceeds WHO limits with the result that one in five premature deaths is linked to air pollution. That’s 8.7 million people each year who die from air pollution exposure.

The list of diseases where air pollution is known as a contributing factor reads like a who’s who of sickness – cancer, stroke, dementia, depression-induced suicide, still births, miscarriages.

Children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution on the development of brains and lungs. Rosamund says scientists have even found soot in the placentas of expectant mothers.

Air pollution is not just killing us, it’s also killing our planet. It creates acid rain, it damages the ozone layer, it harms wildlife, and it makes global warming impossible to control.

We all know what needs to be done so more tragedies like Ella are never repeated.

At a minimum, our cities need to comply with WHO air quality standards, and even better, we make the move as soon as possible to electric vehicles so that emissions gunk is removed once and for all.

The second coroner’s inquest found that Ella would still be alive if the air pollution around her home was at WHO levels. Clean air is a right we should all enjoy.