HOW TO CONTROL HOUSEHOLD POLLUTIONS

Around 2.4 billion people worldwide (around a third of the global population) cook using open fires or inefficient stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung, and crop waste), and coal, which generate harmful household air pollution. Household air pollution was responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year in 2020, including over 237 000 deaths of children under the age of 5. The combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually. Household air pollution exposure leads to noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer. Women and children, typically responsible for household chores such as cooking and collecting firewood, bear the greatest health burden from the use of polluting fuels and technologies in homes. It is essential to expand the use of clean fuels and technologies to reduce household air pollution and protect health. These include solar, electricity, biogas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, alcohol fuels, and biomass stoves that meet the emission targets in the WHO Guidelines. Overview Worldwide, around 2.4 billion people still cook using solid fuels (such as wood, crop waste, charcoal, coal, and dung) and kerosene in open fires and inefficient stoves (1). Most of these people are poor and live in low- and middle-income countries. There is a large discrepancy in access to cleaner cooking alternatives between urban and rural areas: in 2020, only 14% of people in urban areas relied on polluting fuels and technologies, compared with 52% of the global rural population. Household air pollution is generated by the use of inefficient and polluting fuels and technologies in and around the home that contain a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can have levels of fine particles 100 times higher than acceptable. Exposure is particularly high among women and children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth. Reliance on polluting fuels and technologies also requires significant time for cooking on an inefficient device and gathering and preparing fuel. Guidance In light of the widespread use of polluting fuels and stoves for cooking, WHO issued a set of normative guidance, the Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion, which offer practical evidence-based guidance on what fuels and technologies used in the home can be considered clean, including recommendations discouraging use of kerosene and recommending against use of unprocessed coal; specifying the performance of fuels and technologies (in the form of emission rate targets) needed to protect health; and emphasizing the importance of addressing all household energy uses, particularly cooking, space heating, and lighting, to ensure benefits for health and the environment. WHO defines fuels and technologies that are clean for health at the point of use as solar, electricity, biogas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, alcohol fuels, and biomass stoves that meet the emission targets in the WHO Guidelines. Without strong policy action, 2.1 billion people are estimated to still lack access to clean fuels and technologies in 2030 (1). There is a particularly critical need for action in sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth has outpaced access to clean cooking and 923 million people will lack access in 2020. Strategies to increase the adoption of clean household energy include policies that provide financial support to purchase cleaner technologies and fuels, improved ventilation or housing design, and communication campaigns to encourage clean energy use.