Indoor air pollution from the burning of solid fuels kills over 1.6 million people, mostly women and children, every year. The Intermediate Technology Development Group reports on the health risks linked to indoor air pollution and calls for concerted international action to tackle one of the world’s four biggest killers.

Three billion people – half the world’s population – cook with solid fuel (wood, crop residues, charcoal, dung and coal). The resulting air pollution kills almost as many people as unsafe water and sanitation. Poor people are most likely to be victims of air pollution as they tend to rely on lower grades of fuel. Women are at particularly high risk as they typically spend three to seven hours a day by the fire, exposed to smoke, often with young children nearby.

In some sub-Saharan African countries, more than 90 percent of the population use biomass fuels. And the problem is set to grow. On current trends, an extra 200 million people worldwide will use biomass for cooking and heating by 2030.

The report reveals the health impacts of indoor air pollution:

• A child is two to three times more likely to contract acute lower respiratory infection if exposed to indoor air pollution.
• Women who cook on biomass are up to four times more likely to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as bronchitis.
• Lung cancer in Chinese women is directly linked to the use of coal-burning stoves.
• There is also evidence linking indoor air pollution to asthma, tuberculosis, low birth weight, infant mortality and cataracts.

At a household or community level, strategies to reduce the risks from indoor air pollution include:

• improving public awareness of the health risks of smoke
• switching to a cleaner (but usually more expensive) fuel, such as liquid petroleum gas, kerosene or biogas
• using well designed chimney stoves or smoke hoods, which can reduce indoor air pollution by up to 80 percent
• involving communities, particularly women, in developing solutions that suit their circumstances.

The international community is slowly gearing up to tackle the problem, but compared with action on other major killers, the response has been limited. The report’s authors estimate that providing three billion people with access to health indoor air would be around US$2.5 billion annually for the next 12 years. They call on the United Nations to bring together high-level international stakeholders to develop a Global Action Plan, which should include:

• including a specific reference in the Millennium Development Goals to reducing child mortality from indoor air pollution
• developing a global partnership that supports both politically and financially the existing Partnership for Clean Indoor Air
• obtaining the extra sustainable resources from traditional and non-traditional donors needed to bring clean air into millions of homes
• setting up national task forces that bring together key stakeholders to address the problem with international support.

Source(s):
‘Smoke – the killer in the kitchen’, ITDG Publishing, by H. Warwick and A. Doig, 2004 Full document.

Funded by: Intermediate Technology Development Group

id21 Research Highlight: 18 March 2005

Further Information:
Intermediate Technology Development Group
Schumacher Centre for Technology Development
Bourton Hall
Bourton-on-Dunsmore
Warwickshire
CV23 9QZ
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1926 634400
Fax: +44 (0) 1926 634401
Contact the contributor: itdg@itdg.org.uk

Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), UK

Other related links:
ITDG Smoke campaign

World Health Organisation: indoor air polution

Partnership for Clean Indoor Air

'Smoke filled kitchens: improving indoor air quality in western Kenya'

'Inside and out: tackling environmental health risks in developing countries'

'Field studies in peri –urban India – farmers’ views on air pollution in India'

See id21's collection of links relevant to environmental health.