Diseases with the largest total annual health burden from environmental factors, in terms of death, illness and disability or Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)1 are:

* Diarrhoea (58 million DALYS per year; 94% of the diarrhoeal burden of disease) largely from unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene

* Lower respiratory infections (37 million DALYs per year; 41% of all cases globally) largely from air pollution, indoor and outdoor.

* Unintentional injuries other than road traffic injuries (21 million DALYs per year; 44 % of all cases globally), classification which includes a wide range of industrial and workplace accidents.

* Malaria (19 million DALYs per year; 42% of all cases globally), largely as a result of poor water resource, housing and land use management which fails to curb vector populations effectively.

* Road traffic injuries (15 million DALYS per year; 40% of all cases globally), largely as a result of poor urban design or poor environmental design of transport systems.

* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) -- a slowly progressing disease characterized by a gradual loss of lung function. (COPD, 12 million DALYs per year; 42% of all cases globally) largely as a result of exposures to workplace dusts and fumes and other forms of indoor and outdoor air pollution.

* Perinatal conditions (11 million DALYS per year; 11% of all cases globally).

1DALYs = Disability Adjusted Life Years: The sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability.