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Ella Kissi-Debrah inquest: Moving would have been a priority if air pollution dangers were known, says asthma death mother

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah says better communication between public health and medical officials could have helped her daughter.

Ella Kissi-Debrah
Image: Ella Kissi-Debrah died in 2013 aged nine
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The mother of a nine-year-old girl - whose death is thought to be linked to pollution - has said she would have moved house immediately had she known that dirty air was causing her daughter's breathing problems.

Ella Kissi-Debrah died in February 2013 from a fatal asthma attack after suffering numerous seizures over three years and taking more than 30 trips to hospital from her home in south London.

Ella's mother Rosamund Kissi-Debrah previously told Sky News that while her daughter was alive, she did not know what the triggers for her daughter's breathing problems were.

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah said she's 'overwhelmed'
Image: Rosamund Kissi-Debrah was giving evidence at a second inquest into her daughter's death

But giving evidence at a second inquest after the first was quashed, Ms Kissi-Debrah said had she known what she learned since the death of her child about pollution, she would have moved from their home in Lewisham near the busy South Circular route.

She told Southwark Coroner's Court: "The only thing I could have done as her mother would have been to move.

"We literally would have just moved because we were desperate - anything that could have helped.

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"Moving would have been the first thing to do."

The 2014 inquest into Ella's death was overruled after High Court judges heard that illegal levels of pollution likely contributed to her fatal asthma attack.

Speaking at the hearing on Monday, Ms Kissi-Debrah said that public health officials and medical staff needed to work in closer step to prevent more deaths like Ella's.

She said: "There seems to be a disconnect between medical and public health - so public health has all the information and medics don't.

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Girl's family says air pollution contributed to her death

"They need to work together much more closely and it's one of my aspirations - to get public health and medical doctors together, and I think things will be much better."

Ms Kissi-Debrah added that she and her daughter's medical team had been "looking in the wrong direction" for the causes of Ella's breathing difficulties.

The inquest heard that special protocols were in place at the hospital so that Ella could receive treatment quickly whenever she was admitted.

She was taken to hospital in the early hours of 15 February 2013 but died at 3.27am.

Speaking about websites that show air quality, Ms Kissi-Debrah said that their existence was not widely known among parents of asthmatic children.

She went on to say that most efforts to reduce pollution levels look to improve the quality of air over the course of six or 12 months - too short a time to help Ella.

The inquest continues.