About one in three people worldwide have been exposed to household air pollution in one year, Euronews reports.
Domestic air pollution still kills millions of people every year, even as exposure levels decline globally, a new study says.
According to an analysis published in the medical journal The Lancet, household air pollution, which occurs when people cook over open fires or in cookers fuelled by paraffin, coal, wood, crop waste or animal dung, caused 3.1 million deaths worldwide in 2021, with most deaths occurring in low-income countries.
Domestic air pollution contains fine particles that can enter the bloodstream through the slight. It is linked to a range of health problems including lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory infections, cataracts and neonatal disorders.
It can also have deadly consequences for children, with more than 500,000 deaths among children under the age of 5 in 2021, according to the study. That’s about 11 per cent of all deaths among children under 5.
“The high level of paediatric burden estimated in this study is a major cause for concern,” said the study authors from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
They added that the health consequences can be “fatal and long-lasting and have received little attention from researchers and policy makers.”
Regional differences
Between 1990 and 2021, the proportion of people exposed to air pollution from solid cooking fuels fell globally from 56.7 per cent to 33.8 per cent, the calculations show.
However, the actual number of people exposed fell by only 10 per cent, or about 350 million people, to 2.67 billion in 2021. This is due to population growth in countries such as sub-Saharan Africa, where 78.8 per cent of people are exposed to air pollution from the use of solid fuels for home cooking, the study authors said.
Between 1990 and 2021, the number of air pollution-related deaths in the region rose from 685,000 to 741,000, IHME said.
The next highest is South Asia, where pollution will affect 53.2 per cent of people in 2021.
Meanwhile, in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the figure was 7.5 per cent. In high-income countries, the figure was just 0.4 per cent.
The researchers said the findings highlight the importance of helping “under-resourced communities” make the transition to cleaner energy sources. This could include research and development of new technologies, subsidising clean energy appliances, imposing emissions caps, encouraging private sector investment and public awareness campaigns.
“Such initiatives are crucial for mitigating health risks and promoting sustainable development, ultimately improving the quality of life and health outcomes for millions of people,” the study authors said.
