Smoke Stoves Cause Deaths Two Million Per Year

Smoke from burning stoves and heaters are not perfect has caused the death of 2 million people per year. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), indoor air pollution from stoves has affected about 3 billion people or nearly half the world's population.

According to the NIH scientists, in addition to impact on human health, the fuel used in stoves causes of deforestation and environmental degradation. Wood, dried plants, charcoal, animal dung, coal or fuel used for the stove filled the house with thick smoke and blackening the ceiling. This increases the risk of health problems such as cancer, pneumonia, and chronic lung disease.

Women and children who have experienced the greatest risk of health damage due to being at home all the time, while men usually leave the house when the daytime. Women and girls usually collect firewood for the stove. This task is time consuming because they must walk for miles from the settlement thus increasing the risk of experiencing sexual violence and other types of violence.

If women and girls do not need to spend so much time to collect fuel, they will have more time to get an education and build the economy, says the researcher, as quoted from HealthDay, Tuesday (18/10/2011).

"Many people in developed countries do not realize that the smoke from cooking food indoors is harmful to health. International efforts to combat the epidemic has now been started. The role of NIH is to support research that will determine the most efficient means and cost-effective to maintain human health "says Dr. Francis Collins, one of the authors of the report and director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

To overcome this problem, the UN has launched a public-private partnership called the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. The goal is to get the stove and fuel efficient for 100 million homes by 2020, and is expected for all homes later.