Household air pollution

Household air pollution (HAP) is a significant form of indoor air pollution mostly relating to cooking and heating methods used in developing countries.^[1] Since much of the cooking is carried out with biomass fuel, in the form of wood, charcoal, dung, and crop residue, in indoor environments that lack proper ventilation, millions of people, primarily women and children face serious health risks. In total, about three billion people in developing countries are affected by this problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cooking-related pollution causes 3.8 million annual deaths.^[2] The Global Burden of Disease study estimated the number of deaths in 2017 at 1.6 million.^[3] The problem is closely related to energy poverty and cooking.

Smoke from traditional household solid fuel combustion commonly contains a range of incomplete combustion products, including both fine and coarse particulate matter (e.g., PM_2.5, PM₁₀), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and a variety of organic air pollutants.

Technology-based solutions to this problem tend to focus on the supply of improved cookstoves although behavioral changes can also be important.