World Health Organization. (2021, September 22) Household air pollution and health. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health
2.6 billion people still cook using fuels that are insufficient and can cause disease. Lower class citizens lack access to clean fuels and technologies so they must resort to fuels such as wood, crop waste, charcoal, coal and dung. These can cause household air pollution and can severely hurt one’s health as well as emit black carbon and methane which are powerful climate change pollutants. With a poorly ventilated home these pollutants can typically cause pneumonia, strokes, heart disease, COPD, or lung cancer. WHO is working to provide countries with healthier fuels and technologies to prevent further disease from household pollution.
The dangers of household pollution are very serious and can even cause death. This article shows how important it is for the government to put in place policies so that citizens are safer and they know the dangers of using unclean fuels. The article says that without a large policy change then the “people lacking access to clean fuels and technologies will remain largely unchanged by 2030”. However, I understand the significance and difficulty of getting an entire policy updated so in the meantime just getting the word out about how unsafe some fuels are could improve the statistics of the amount of people getting sick from household pollutants. I’m very hopeful about WHO’s plans for the future. They have done amazing things already and I can see how they could potentially help many more people. These unclean fuels from the environment are causing disease as well as contributing to climate change. and through all of our lessons in APES I have learned the significance of spreading the word and talking about issues. The main thing we can do about informing others and creating change is to talk about this problem.
Leah- It’s hard for us to imagine what cooking is like in so many kitchens in the world that are so different than what we’re used to in the United States. Can you imagine burning wood or dung in your home to cook food? One potential fuel that could be further developed is alcohol fuel (like what we made in class) which burns way cleaner. If the predominantly women and children that are exposed to this bad air get healthier air imagine how much more productive they would be in helping develop their communities. It’s hard to be too inspired to do anything when you’re sick all the time. This is an interesting article and I’m glad WHO is on it. What do you think… for these poor rural areas in developing countries will a policy from WHO actually make a difference? Did the article mention if there was any action plan forming? (Great job with the write up on this, Leah.)
I do think that a policy will make a difference. I believe that with more access to other kinds of fuels that they will be used. Also, in the article it says that WHO is working to integrate guidance and resources for supporting clean household energy into global health initiatives and decision-support tools already.