Air pollution is responsible for more than R4-billion in health costs, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Monday.
"Healthcare costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels amount to R4-billion," the department's national air quality officer Peter Lukey told reporters in Vanderbijlpark at the Air Quality Governance Lekgotla.
He said the poor were disproportionally affected by air pollution.
"They carry a double burden because firstly they are poor and secondly they are sick."
The poor often live in poorly ventilated areas and use coal fires for heat and cooking.
In addition to this, Lukey said during apartheid times living areas for the poor were often designated in areas downwind from industrial plants as no one else wanted to live there...
- SAPA
"Healthcare costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels amount to R4-billion," the department's national air quality officer Peter Lukey told reporters in Vanderbijlpark at the Air Quality Governance Lekgotla.
He said the poor were disproportionally affected by air pollution.
"They carry a double burden because firstly they are poor and secondly they are sick."
The poor often live in poorly ventilated areas and use coal fires for heat and cooking.
In addition to this, Lukey said during apartheid times living areas for the poor were often designated in areas downwind from industrial plants as no one else wanted to live there...
- SAPA
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