The World Health Organization has called for concerted action to reduce environmental hazards to children, which, the agency says, claim more than five million lives a year among the under 14s.

The WHO's director general, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, speaking at the World Health Day launch on Monday in New Delhi, India, called on the United Nations, member states, and non—governmental organisations to take more effective and visible action to reduce deaths among children caused by environmental hazards.

“The biggest threats to children's health lurk in the very places that should be …