Delhi's Toxic Air: A Silent Crisis Threatening Children's Health

Fri Dec 05 2025 11:39:19 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Delhi's worsening pollution is causing a spike in respiratory illnesses among children, leaving parents anxious and searching for safety. With air quality hitting hazardous levels, the young ones bear the brunt of this crisis.

As Delhi grapples with severe air pollution, children's health is at a critical risk. Hospitals are flooded with cases of breathing difficulties among kids, with many experiencing worsening symptoms due to the hazardous air. Parents report heightened anxiety over their children's health, as experts warn of long-term impacts from poor air quality. With the city's air quality index soaring to alarming levels, immediate solutions are crucial to protect the young and vulnerable.

The toxic haze shrouding the Indian capital, Delhi, spares no-one, but its children are counting the biggest cost of the city's worsening and recurrent pollution problem.

Nowhere is this more evident than at paediatricians' clinics. The BBC visited one such facility in Noida, near Delhi, on a weekday morning a few days back.

In a packed waiting hall outside the doctor's consulting room, anxious parents stood in line with children sneezing, coughing or complaining of breathing difficulties.

Most started falling ill in October, when the capital's air quality dipped to hazardous levels and waiting times for doctor's appointments had stretched longer than usual.

Toxic air is a recurring problem in Delhi and across parts of northern India during the winter.

There isn't a single cause behind the problem, but a mix of factors like low wind speeds, industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust, dropping temperatures and the seasonal burning of crop stubble in neighbouring states.

Since last month, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) - which measures different types of pollutants, including the level of fine particulate matter PM2.5 that can clog lungs - has been hovering between 300 and 400. This is more than 20 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

Readings above 400 affect all healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases, but high exposure to PM2.5 hits children and the elderly the hardest.

Across the capital, many hospitals have seen an influx of children who are sick because of the unbreathable air.

These particles can affect the child's immunity, especially because their system is still developing and the cells are learning an immune response in the early years, Dr Shishir Bhatnagar, the paediatrician at the Noida clinic, told the BBC.

Each year, the government rolls out emergency steps - halting construction, banning polluting vehicles - to curb the smog. This year, it even tried cloud seeding to trigger artificial rain, without success.

But none of it has helped ease the pollution crisis that sparks anxiety among the city's 20 million people - particularly among parents of young children.

Khushboo Bharti, 31, recalls the night she had to rush her daughter, Samaira, to the emergency due to a violent cough that left her unresponsive. Samaira, treated with strong medications and on oxygen support, was diagnosed with pneumonia.

As cases rise, parents like Gopal worry about the long-term health implications for their children. With the added stress of air quality, some parents are contemplating leaving Delhi altogether, seeking safer environments for their kids.

Currently, schools are limiting outdoor activities to protect children. There are calls for stricter measures, especially for economically disadvantaged families who may not have the means to escape the pollution.

Despite expert advice to keep children indoors, parents struggle with the reality of curtailing their children's outdoor playtime, highlighting a critical public health crisis that needs urgent attention.