• English

As part of a broader project to assess major risk factors to health, the mortality resulting from exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution and household (indoor) air pollution from polluting fuel use for cooking was assessed. Ambient air pollution results from emissions from industrial activity, households, cars and trucks which are complex mixtures of air pollutants, many of which are harmful to health. Of all of these pollutants, fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human health. By polluting fuels is understood solid fuels such as wood, coal, animal dung, charcoal, and crop wastes and also kerosene. The majority of the burden is borne by the populations in low and middle-income countries. The mortality attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution can be expressed as : Number of deaths Death rate Death rates are calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the total population (or indicated if a different population group is used, e.g. children under 5 years). Evidence from epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to air pollution is linked, among others, to the important diseases taken into account in this estimate: Acute respiratory infections (estimated for all ages ); Cerebrovascular diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); Ischaemic heart diseases in adults (estimated above 25 years); Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (estimated above 25 years); and Lung cancer in adults (estimated above 25 years).