"Stale air" homes kill 3.2 million people every year

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that pollution caused by open fires, fireplaces or stoves claims millions of lives every year.

A third of the world’s population lives in homes that use open fires or stoves for cooking and heating, fueled by kerosene, biomass (wood, manure, crop residues) or coal. And all this together causes dangerous air pollution. The number of annual deaths due to household pollution is estimated at 3.2 million, says WHO expert. The victims include at least 237,000 children under 5 years of age.

Most people affected by indoor pollution live in poor communities and low- and middle-income countries. In addition, those who live in rural areas and rely on open hearths and stoves to survive are three times more likely to have this condition than those living in similar conditions in urban centres.

Women and children suffer more from household pollution, since men are usually absent (going to work). The consequences include the development of serious diseases such as:

• Brain hemorrhage (stroke)
• Cardiac ischemia
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Lungs’ cancer.

Research has shown that wood stoves, open range cookers and similar indoor appliances produce hazardous pollutants in quantities 100 times higher than permissible limits. As WHO explains, exposure to particulate matter and other pollutants from household pollution causes:

• Inflammation of the airways and lungs.
• Impaired immune function.
• Decreased blood’s ability to carry oxygen to organs and tissues.

In the long term, chronic inflammation and other reactions undermine health and lead many people to premature death. Data for 2020 shows that global mortality:

• 12% (or more than 1 million deaths) were due to coronary heart disease caused by household pollution.
• 12% occurred due to strokes, due to the burning of solid fuel and kerosene inside houses.
• 23% of COPD is due to household contamination.
• 11% are due to lung cancer caused by carcinogens in the home air.

Even more alarming is the fact that 44% of deaths of young children (under 5 years of age) from pneumonia are due to household pollutants. Household pollution is also responsible for 22% of adult lung deaths worldwide.

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