'Fuel for life': household energy and health.

• Author: Reinhardt, Erika

INDOOR AIR POLLUTION FROM COOKING AND HEATING with solid fuels, including wood, dung and coal on open fires or traditional stoves, is responsible for at least 1.5 million deaths every year worldwide. Such pollution causes acute lower respiratory infections in children under five years of age and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults.

"It is a travesty that 1.5 million lives a year-many are children whose lives have not even started-are snuffed out every year because of needless exposure to indoor smoke. We have simple affordable solutions; let us ensure that they reach the people who can benefit from, and live by, using them", said Dr. Maria Neira, World Health Organization (WHO) Director for Public Health and Environment. Exposure levels are particularly high among women and children, who spend the most time indoors by the fireside, and were responsible for nearly 800,000 deaths among children and more than 500,000 among women in 2002. In developing countries, indoor air pollution is the most lethal killer after malnutrition, unsafe sex and lack of safe water and adequate sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia are particularly affected, with 396,000 and 483,000 annual deaths, respectively.

The use of inefficient, polluting fuels places a major burden on the health of poor families in developing countries, as they do not have the resources to obtain cleaner and more efficient fuels and appliances. This holds back economic development, thereby continuing a vicious cycle of poverty. A new report from WHO, "Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health", which was launched to coincide with the 14th meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, demonstrates that investing in cleaner household fuels can yield a sevenfold economic benefit in health and productivity gains. It gives an overview of the health impacts of indoor air pollution from solid fuel use and describes solutions to promote health and development in the context of the household energy challenge. It asserts that innovative policy approaches and a rigorous acceleration of investments are needed to save lives and enable development, and that progress in access to modern cooking fuels since 1990 has been negligible.

In order to halve by the year 2015 the number of people relying on solid fuels, 485,000 people will need to gain access to cleaner fuels every day for the next ten years. The report states that investing $13 billion per year to...