Air pollution is a major—and increasing—problem in our cities. The poor air quality episodes in Delhi from December 2015–January 2016 served to bring home to many of us, the fact that respirable particulate content in the air that we breathe is more than 10 times the ‘safe’ limit. The odd–even scheme that was implemented following these episodes, under which only odd numbered vehicles could operate on odd-numbered dates and vice versa, highlighted poor air quality as a problem that each one of us has to live with every day.  The high particulate content episodes and the odd–even scheme brought Delhi into the news; yet poor air quality is prevalent in all our cities, forcing us to live, in a sense, in our own excrement.

 Most of us recognize air quality as a problem because of the increasing and chronic colds and coughs that we have to live with.  Yet, this recognition ignores the far more severe impacts of air pollution. As the cover story of this issue brings out, experts are now looking at the possible link between poor air quality and the incidence of childhood cancer, especially leukaemia. This is frightening: we cannot accept a future in which our own children are stricken with this life-threatening malady—it turns our future from one of hope to one of despair.

Our children need a better future. Public-policy interventions are needed which can address both the needs of already-suffering children, as well as the root cause of their problems. And while there may be uncertainties about the degree of linkage between air quality and the incidence of childhood cancer, there is no doubt that we need better data on cancer–stricken children.  This data includes information on the numbers of children with cancer, the type of cancer, the location where they live, and related factors. This would help us understand the epidemiology of the problem—which is the first step in zooming in on the public-policy interventions that are needed.

However, as the cover story tells us, there is a lack of human and institutional capacity to record and map this data. This means that there is a need for more trained professionals who can diagnose childhood cancer and ensure that these diagnosed cases are entered into the National Cancer Registry.  It also means that this data base needs to be assessed and analysed at regular intervals to tease out emerging trends relating to incidence of childhood cancer. This would help us to shed more light on the link between air quality and the incidence of childhood cancer.  It will, in any case, help us to better, and more quickly, address the needs of cancer-stricken children.

Our children are our future.  We need to make sure that they lead healthy lives.