12-year-old girl makes backpack that filters air to keep airborne diseases away

A 12-year-old schoolgirl from the UK has managed to develop a backpack that can filter the air to protect users from pollution and airborne diseases.

Eleanor Woods, who hails from Highburton, near Huddersfield has won a national engineering competition called "Backpack To The Future" for her innovation. The backpack comes with a built-in solar-powered fan and filters and is also capable of carrying textbooks, stationery, and other school supplies.

Woods' mother has mild asthma, which is what made her want to study science and build a device that can help people keep diseases caused by air pollution at bay, writes The Independent.

"I have an air filter at home because my mum has mild asthma. We have just had a pandemic and this backpack could help prevent another one from happening with the air filters," she said.

She also spoke about how her generation is aware of pollution and its consequences. She says that it was one of the reasons she decided to design the backpack. She went on to add that climate activist Great Thunberg is a "big role model" for her.

Scientists, innovators, and researchers have been trying to come up with ways to fight air pollution that has become the cause of millions of premature deaths all across the globe. The "Backpack To The Future" competition is one such way to encourage youngsters to take up science and help make the world a better place.

The contest was organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology in collaboration with fashion brand Hype. The contest aims to inspire children and show them that fashion, science and technology can go together.

Last year, a report by the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute claimed that microscopic air pollution shortens lives globally by more than two years.

Similarly, another study published in The Lancet revealed that pollution caused approximately 9 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019. It included countries like China, the US, and many African and European countries.

More than 90 percent of pollution-related deaths happened in low- and middle-income countries, with India coming in at the top of the list, followed by China with 2.1 million deaths.