#WorldHealthOrganization: Household Air Pollution And Health

Around 3 billion people still cook using solid fuels (such as wood, crop wastes, charcoal, coal and dung) and kerosene in open fires and inefficient stoves. Most of these people are poor, and live in low- and middle-income countries.

These cooking practices are inefficient, and use fuels and technologies that produce high levels of household air pollution with a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small soot particles that penetrate deep into the lungs. In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can be 100 times higher than acceptable levels for fine particles. Exposure is particularly high among women and young children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth.
✓ Impacts On Health
3.8 million people a year die prematurely from illness attributable to the household air pollution caused by the inefficient use of solid fuels and kerosene for cooking. Among these 3.8 million deaths:

- 27% are due to Pneumonia
- 18% from Stroke
- 27% from Ischaemic Heart Disease
- 20% from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- 8% from Lung Cancer.

✓ Guidelines For Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion
To ensure healthy air in and around the home, WHO’s Guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion provide health-based recommendations on the types of fuels and technologies to protect health as well as strategies for the effective dissemination and adoption of such home energy technologies. These build upon existing WHO outdoor air quality guidelines and WHO guidance on levels of specific indoor pollutants.
Tags: #WHO #ScienceOnBuzz #HealthyLifeMatters #Science