Africa, by Subregion and Economy, 2019

acute strokes, and long-term increases in PM2.5 concentrations are related to ischemic strokes in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Alimohammadi et al. 2016). Similar to the higher risk of morbidity for infants, elevated air pollution led to increased hospitalizations of children due to respiratory diseases in Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran (Mansourian et al. 2010).

Subregional Comparisons

Subregional comparisons show that the Mashreq economies are the worst affected, with around 188,000 fatalities due to excessively polluted air in 2019. Estimations by the IHME suggest that, in Egypt alone, more than 90,000 such deaths in 2019 were related to AAP—almost 250 per day (figure 3.9). Maghreb countries are also affected severely, with around

FIGURE 3.9

Total AAP-Related Deaths in the Middle East and North Africa, by Subregion and Economy, 2019

Mashreq Maghreb GCC Egypt, Arab Rep. Iran, Islamic Rep. Morocco Iraq Algeria Saudi Arabia Yemen, Rep. Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia Libya Lebanon United Arab Emirates Jordan West Bank and Gaza Oman Kuwait Bahrain Qatar Djibouti Malta

0 50 100 150

Estimated number of deaths (thousands) 200

Source: Data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) tool of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Health Data Exchange (http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool). Note: The subregions (three top bars) are as follows: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Maghreb subregion includes Algeria, Libya, Malta, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Mashreq subregion includes Djibouti, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, West Bank and Gaza, and the Republic of Yemen. AAP = ambient air pollution.