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Around 9,000 people die each day because of what is being used to cook, light and heat their homes.
A new report in the Lancet shows that 3bn people worldwide are exposed to household air pollution (HAP) through the burning of solid fuels such as coal, charcoal, wood and crops. It is one of the biggest environmental factors leading to morbidity causing 6 times as many deaths as second-hand-smoke.
The smoke given off from these causes huge amounts of HAP, especially when it is poorly vented, and it has been associated with respiratory infections, cancer and chronic lung disease.
Not only are these fuels more likely to be used in poorer households, as the chart below shows, but those in poverty are likely to be affected even more due to bad ventilation in their homes. Women and children are the most at risk.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) map from 2005 showing how many people die from HAP in each country shows that the world’s poorer countries are at the most risk with the problem being particularly bad in Africa.
World's #1 environmental probl: Indoor air pollution (open fire) kills 1-in-13 b/c poverty http://t.co/uwxKmB6QSA pic.twitter.com/Qv23KPorBN
— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) September 9, 2014
How can this problem be lessened? The report concludes the following needs to be done:
Because cooking is by far the greatest source of polluting emissions to HAP, interventions with cleaner cooking solutions have been the primary prevention strategy. However, the solutions will need to be sustainable and so stoves should be durable and capable of lasting several years not several months. Most importantly, there must be a market demand for such stoves based on them being affordable, having improved cooking functionalities for the family, and being culturally suitable.
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