Growing up in the haze
The cost of breathing unhealthy air
“I’m very worried about the air pollution in this district,” says Ariunsaikhan, 29. Her 3-year-old son Tuvshinsaikhan was born with birth defects. “The doctor said it might be related to the air I was breathing when I was pregnant. I also know many women who have had miscarriages or have given birth too early.”
Ariunsaikhan is a single mother with a disability. Like many Mongolian families, she and her three children reside in a ger – a traditional Mongolian yurt that uses a coal-powered stove. At night, she wakes up every three hours to add more coal or wood into the stove, ensuring her children stay warm in their sleep. She then wakes up at 5am to get ready for her job as a cleaner in a restaurant.
Coal is a primary source of fuel for most families like hers, but a lot more than coal ends up in stoves during the harsh winter months. Ariunsaikhan uses polypropylene, carton boxes and food wrappers as fire-starters. Trash or even tires can also be found in stoves.
The result is PM2.5 levels which can be hazardous for children. Fine particles and carbon monoxide can increase risk of asthma, developmental delays and chronic diseases. For pregnant women, it increases risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and congenital diseases.
“In wintertime, the kids are always coughing. I give them traditional remedies and hot soups,” Ariunsaikhan explains as she bundles up her children up for the 40-minute walk to school. It’s a chilly -19 degrees outside, and the PM2.5 level is over 400. “We can’t afford masks,” she sighs.
“This year, the number of children being admitted for flu and respiratory illnesses has almost doubled compared to last year,” notes Dr Oyunzul Jamsran, a senior pediatrician in a nearby hospital.
“It is the number one cause for admissions. Children are being exposed to air pollution both indoors and outdoors.”
The problem is especially acute in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Already in 2011, a study showed that one in every 10 deaths in Ulaanbaatar was attributed to air pollution.
It’s not just the pollutants that are dangerous for children’s health. Hot stoves can lead to accidents, as Ariunsaikhan all too well knows. In the afternoons, her 10-year-old daughter Narangerel is in charge of the family until Ariunsaikhan comes back from work.
“The stove is very dangerous,” Narangerel says. “One day, we were playing inside and my brother had a horrible accident. He fell on the stove and his chest got badly burned.”
Contrast these dangers to a green solution like UNICEF’s CHIP, a cooking, heating and insulation package which allows families to safely warm their home and ensure their children sleep in clean air. The package includes an energy-efficient electric heater, circular air filters on the door, and extra layers of windproof and waterproof insulation around and under the ger.
So far, the package has been installed in over 4000 households and kindergartens, improving health, comfort, and indoor air quality for thousands of children.
Bayan, 8, lives in a nearby ger which received a CHIP three years ago. He warms his hands on the CHIP and then cozies up on the couch to flip through his notebook, filled with drawings of mountains, gers and reindeers.
“It’s made a big difference,” says his grandmother, Dulmaa Bat Ochir. “I have a coal stove and there’s a lot of smoke. I feel the difference when I come to this ger. My grandchildren used to always be sick. Now, that’s changed.”
While residential gers produce a lot of smog, so do schools and kindergartens.
Kindergarten #187 in Nalaikh district burns an estimated 42 tons of coal every year. Six staff are employed here, working in shifts to replenish coal to ensure the little ones can continue learning and playing. Dark smoke billows out of the chimney while the children play outside. Unsurprisingly, every fourth chair in the kindergarten is empty. The missing kids are out sick with the flu or pneumonia.
The enormous cost of Mongolia’s reliance on coal extends beyond children’s health. Respiratory illnesses, fatigue, absenteeism and attention problems all impact school performance. And when children are sick, parents – often mothers – need to take time off, too. A recent UNICEF-supported study showed that absenteeism linked to air pollution cost private sector companies in Mongolia $7.5 million in just five years.
UNICEF Mongolia recognized the wide-ranging impact of the issue long ago and has been pushing for green energy transition, better protection of schools and kindergartens, healthcare that prioritizes prevention and response to air pollution impacts, and social protection measures for the most exposed families.
"It's time we declare air pollution unacceptable," says Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, UNICEF Representative in Mongolia. "It's time to acknowledge that the air pollution crisis is a direct assault on the rights of children.”
In the winter darkness, Ariunsaikhan and her children hold hands to avoid slipping on the icy path to school. A thick cloak of smog is already hanging over the city, only dotted by clouds of smoke from the nearby powerplants. “Electric heaters are wonderful,” she says. “They make families healthier, and they make homes safer.”
Watch how air pollution is affecting children in Mongolia:
