Air pollution is a silent public health emergency, killing 7 million people every year and damaging the health of many, many more.

Despite this epidemic of needless, preventable deaths and disability, a smog of complacency pervades the planet.

This is a defining moment and we must scale up action to urgently respond to this challenge.

Air pollution puts the health of billions at risk from the simple act of breathing. The World Health Organization estimates nine in 10 people globally breathe polluted, toxic air.

Air pollution is a health risk at every stage of life.

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Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can damage a developing baby’s vital organs including the brain, heart and lungs and lead to a range of conditions including asthma, heart disease and cancers.

Air pollution also negatively affects brain development during childhood, lowering children’s chances of success in school and employment possibilities later in life.

The WHO’s latest estimates show that air pollution is responsible for one-quarter to one-third of deaths from heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory disease.

No one, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. A clean and healthy environment is the single most important precondition for ensuring good health. By cleaning up the air we breathe, we can prevent or at least reduce some of the greatest health risks.

Although air pollution is getting worse in many parts of the world, this is not an inevitable march toward disaster.

There is much that we can do to improve air quality, but we must all play our part. No person, group, city, country or region can solve the problem alone. We need strong commitments and actions from everyone: government decision-makers, community leaders, mayors, civil society, the private sector and even the individual. It will take time and endurance but we all have a critical role to play.

The WHO is already taking on the battle. We are empowering health professionals not only to explain the risks of air pollution to their patients and how best to reduce those risks, but to give them the skills and evidence to advocate for health in policy decisions impacting air quality and public health.

Through global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris climate accord and the Urban Agenda 2030, the WHO is building alliances with partners working in energy, climate and environment.

We are using the “health argument” to bring different players in transport, urban planning, housing, energy and environment to the table and giving them the tools, resources and support to evaluate the health impacts of their policy decisions.

The WHO also supports the health sector to “walk the talk” on air pollution and health. Inefficient energy use in hospitals and other healthcare facilities contributes to air pollution but is also a barrier to providing even the most basic health services and ultimately universal healthcare. The WHO is working with partners in the energy sector to understand the power needs of essential medical services, and to help drive innovation in clean and renewable energy power for healthcare delivery.

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Despite the overwhelming evidence, political action is still urgently needed to boost investments and speed up action to reduce air pollution.

I am excited and honoured that, in less than a week, the WHO will host the first global conference on air pollution and health, where leaders will chart next steps for future action to cut air pollution in their countries.

The conference will include a high-level “action day” at which we expect ministers, mayors, heads of intergovernmental organisations and others to make commitments to reduce air pollution and its impact on health. This will include measures like strengthening standards and legislation on air quality, improving assessment of the effects of pollution, enhancing global leadership and advocacy, ensuring access to clean energy and increasing investments in low-emissions technologies, as well as research, monitoring and evaluation.

The world has turned the corner on tobacco. Now it must do the same for the “new tobacco”: the toxic air that billions breathe every day.

• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is director general of the World Health Organization.