Household Air Pollution from Cooking Fuels: An Environmental and Public Health Challenge

Abstract

Cooking is central to our lives. Nearly 40% of the world population and about half of population of developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America rely on biomass fuels for their cooking energy needs and 84% of them reside in rural areas. When used in simple cooking stoves, these fuels emit substantial amounts of toxic pollutants that include respirable particles, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, and poly aromatic compounds. In households with limited ventilation as is common in rural household of developing countries, exposures experienced by household members have been measured to be many times higher than World Health Organization’s indoor air quality guidelines. Due to customary role of woman in cooking, she is exposed more. As children are often carried on their mother’s back or lap while the cooking is in progress, they are also exposed to high levels of cooking smoke and therefore are at risk of getting respiratory problems.

Research studies give moderate to strong evidence linking household air pollution with chronic lung and other diseases making it a major public health problem of poor nations where it accounts for much of morbidity and over a million deaths annually. Also, fuel gathering adds time and transport burden on women and children, limiting their time for education and other productive work. In addition to health risks, incomplete combustion of biomass fuels are also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which are the key environmental concern for climate change today.