Ella Kissi-Debrah death: Mum continues clean air fight 10 years on

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah spoke to the BBC ahead of the 10th anniversary of her daughter's death

A London mother who is campaigning against air pollution 10 years on from her daughter's death has said she will not "apologise" for her work.

Ella Kissi-Debrah was the first person to have air pollution listed as a cause of death at an inquest in the UK.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah has been calling on MPs to introduce the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill - or "Ella's law", named after her daughter.

She said she wanted to ensure "no child in this country will die from asthma".

At the conclusion of Ella Kissi-Debrah's inquest in 2020, coroner Philip Barlow said the nine-year-old had been exposed to excessive levels of pollution before she died.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said she focuses on happy memories instead of Ella's "horrendous" asthma attacks

Her mother Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah has been campaigning to improve air quality since, and has spoken of her support for schemes like the ULEZ in London, which the mayor of London is planning to expand.

Speaking about the overlap between her work and the project, she said the places where the scheme has been implemented have benefitted from "better air than other parts".

"My point is: if you're dead you can't go to work. I am not going to apologise because I care about the health of people in the city that I'm in.

"Children don't get a voice because they don't vote - someone has to speak for them," she said.

Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah previously said she did not know how dangerous levels of pollution were before Ella's death

Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, from Lewisham in south-east London, told BBC Radio London her whole family continue to be deeply affected by her daughter's death, including her other children who were in the hospital that day.

"I didn't know it was going to happen," she said. "It all went wrong, it went horribly wrong."

Discussing how her grief has changed in the decade since Ella passed away, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said her emotions are "different" now but "the yearning, that has never changed".

"I'm not looking forward to Wednesday morning. There's no other day in the 365 days like that."

In the years that have passed since Ella's death, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said music, her church, therapy and her loved ones had helped her to cope, although she is "always triggered" by hearing stories of children dying with asthma.

"I was in hospital last week and I saw another child on a nebuliser. The moment I see that... straight away I think about Ella in a mask," she said.

The Clean Air Bill is set to be scrutinised by MPs in the Commons after being introduced in the House of Lords

In December, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah was made a CBE in the New Year Honours list for services to public health.

She previously said her daughter "would be really, really proud that I just didn't give up".

While she is in favour of expanding ULEZ, she stressed more needs to be done to reduce its potential negative impact, and has spoken to Sadiq Khan about increasing bus services, and to City Hall about making sure financial assistance schemes reach more Londoners.

'LTNs show the division'

She added that public transport needed to be more reliable, cleaner, and affordable, and the government "needs to contribute to the scrappage scheme".

However, Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah believes not all traffic schemes are as beneficial as others, and said LTNs "show the division" between the most and least deprived Londoners.

"Certain people have lobbied their council and have manged to get LTNs in (their area) and have pushed all the traffic on to areas like the South Circular where the most deprived live," she said.

The campaigner said her goal for the next decade is to ensure that "no child in this country will die from asthma, and that the health of this nation has improved".

"Ella's gone 10 years, and those figures haven't changed. That means there are families all over our capital; there are parents who are grieving as much as I am. That's not acceptable," she said.

A remembrance event is being held on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of Ella's death, with the mayor of London expected to be among those attending.

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