According to UNICEF, lead poisoning in children has become a serious issue and the levels only continue to rise. An alarming number of 1 in 3 children have lead levels in their blood that are at 5 micrograms per deciliter or more than that. Lead levels in the blood marked at level 5 or higher must immediately be looked after and dealt with.
Lead can be exposed to children in a number of ways. For instance, children can be exposed to lead while playing outdoors in lead-effected soil. Other examples include lead-based paint, which was banned in the USA a long time back. Younger children can also be exposed to lead if their parents work at a chemical factory or anywhere where the nature of their work exposes them to lead. This traces of lead can get stuck to the parents' clothes and children can get effected by them while hugging or cuddling.
Lead exposure can lead not just to physical problems but a variety of mental health problems as well. These, in turn, can even collectively develop into criminal behaviour. Physical problems can include kidney and heart issues for older children who are almost in their teenage. These problems can affect in the long run, even in their adult life.
More than half of the world's lead poisoning cases in children are in South Asia, a total of 378.7 million cases. Sub-Saharan Africa, and West and Central Africa, follow at second and third positions respectively, with 232.5 million and 139.4 million cases accordingly. To learn more about lead poisoning statistics in children worldwide, see the infographic below.
Infographic by: Statista
