India launched a national clean air program with the aim of improving air quality in around 130 odd cities. Four years in, by January this year, only 38 of those were on track to hit their targets. In most South Asian cities, less than 50% of the pollution comes from within the city itself.
Particulate matter is shortening lives and hobbling economies in the region. We ask how policy changes and international collaboration could mitigate the suffering as the pollution spreads. Our correspondent meets with two Russian men who, fearing being drafted, made a hair-raising journey by dinghy from their homeland’s far east. And why Seventh Day Adventists seem to live longer lives.
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