As she watched her five-month-old son lying in intensive care, wires and tubes crisscrossing his tiny body, Uyanga cursed her hometown Ulaanbaatar and its chronic pollution.
The toxic smog that settles over the Mongolian capital every winter has been a suffocating problem for more than a decade that successive governments have failed to dispel.
There are wisps of hope in a resurgent grassroots movement and a promised official push to action. But the statistics are grim. Respiratory illness cases have risen steadily, with pneumonia the second leading cause of death for children under five.
Uyanga’s son was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, then developed a secondary infection in a ward crowded with children suffering the effects of some of the world’s worst air.
“I was so scared when he was…
You're reading a preview of
Cape Argus (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2025-03-13