🔥 Climate change dramatic health effects on kids

Covid-19 isn’t the only reason why kids should wear face masks...

Hello and welcome to Careviser by Marie Loubiere, the weekly newsletter that cuts through the healthcare noise with a single focus: productization of the latest research and tech breakthroughs.

Climate change already has consequences on our health. See the kids in California and Australia that have lived through insane wildfires in the past few years. They have trouble breathing for weeks after the fires, asthma is on the rise and even their growth is threatened. 

Health effects of wildfire smoke in children and public health tools: a narrative review by Stephanie M. Holm, Mark D. Miller & John R. Balmes

• 🗝️ Why it matters: Climate change leads to an increasing number of wildfires, especially in densely populated areas such as California. The California wildfires of 2020 burned more than 4% of the state’s land, led to a major disaster declaration and triggered mass evacuations.

Children are an especially vulnerable population because they have increased exposure (children often spend more time outdoors), they breathe more air relative to their body weight, and they are still growing and developing. 

•  🔎 Findings: Wildfire emissions release both organic and elemental carbons and as gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds known as VOCs). When they start burning urban elements, they can also release other toxic chemicals. When wildfire smoke reaches the atmosphere, it can increase releases in other compounds (aerosol and ozone). Air pollution due to smoke leads to several effects for children. It also affects children born from pregnant women with pollution exposure.

  • Respiratory effects on the lungs leading to oxidative stress and inflammatory response

  • Deposit of fine particle matters on the lungs exacerbating asthma risks

  • It can impair the growth of the lung function at a crucial age, but could also impact birth weight & growth and increase the rate of obesity. This can impact cardiovascular health when children grow up.

  • It could be associated with increased rates of pneumonia

  • Ultra-fine particles penetrate into the systemic circulation and cross the blood–brain barrier suggesting potential neuropsychological effects (ADHD, autism...)

  • Some gases are carcinogenic leading to higher cancer risk later in life

During wildfires themselves, there are other health effects on children especially younger ones:

• An increase in the number of visits to the ER 

• An increase in upper respiratory symptoms (itchy eyes, sore throat, cough...), diseases like pneumonia and bronchitis as well as lower respiratory symptoms (like wheeze)

• A possible effect on respiratory deaths

• Stress-related effects such as depressive symptoms and PTSD

• ✅ Limits: The review builds on the existing literature on the health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke in children. Such a research field is still very limited and would need to be investigated further. 

• 🕴️ Potential tools to mitigate these health risks:

  • Wearing face masks including high filtration ones such as N95/FFP2 (which seems to be the solution to everything in 2020!)

  • Use of HEPA air cleaners combined with HVAC air ventilation with the highest filters available 

  • Use of low-cost sensors to map in real-time the spatial variability of estimated particulate matter concentrations so that affected populations can stay indoors and protect themselves

😷 I’ll spare you with the latest cool face masks for kids startups and focus on two companies focused on air quality. 

• 🌐 PurpleAir is a self-funded Utah company founded in 2015 as a side project. It gained traction in the past 3 years as the Californian wildfires grew more dramatic. They manufacture low-cost sensors that monitor air quality. They sell their sensors to individuals and professionals. As their sensors are Wi-Fi connected, PurpleAir aggregates all the data in a map that can be accessed by anyone - which is a key differentiator as competitors only show you your own sensors’ data. Contrary to governmental agencies' sensors that are more accurate, they show live data in a very detail-oriented manner. During wildfires, Californians were glued to the Purple Air map to see the air quality around them. 

💸 Business model: they sell sensors starting at $199, which is quite expensive to make it really mass-market. The biggest potential seems to be in selling all the aggregated data from sensors. They already signed a data deal with the Weather Company. I see huge opportunities for them to provide their data to consumer apps, without needing to build a strong brand themselves.   

• 🧹 Air8 started four months ago in Barcelona. Launched by a team of entrepreneurs active in the events industry, they were inspired by covid-19 to build a B2B “clean air as a service” business. They provide the entire tech stack, devices and monitoring services to clean the air in spaces ranging from schools to clinics. Their devices filtrate 99.97% of malicious particles. Their solutions can prove helpful both in the case of an epidemic such as covid-19, but also when there is intense pollution coming from wildfires. 

💰 I imagine they are getting significant traction as a lot of businesses want to attract customers by showing that they provide safe spaces and as they already had a strong network in the event industry. I wonder about the scality of the business given that they have to customize every installation to the existing infrastructure. It is still a hardware business involved in constructions so it can be challenging. I am looking forward to seeing what they become in the upcoming months. 

That’s a wrap for today! Don’t hesitate to reply to this email with comments, I read and answer all emails :)

Marie