Assessment of Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) related disease burden especially amongst children in Dhading district

Abstract

Introduction: Solid Fuel Use (SFU) is defined as: the household combustion of biomass (such as dung, charcoal, wood, or crop residues), or coal. Worldwide, approximately 50% of all households and 90% of rural households utilize solid fuels for cooking or heating. In simple stoves, biomass fuels emit substantial amounts of health-damaging pollutants, including respirable particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3 butadiene, and polyaromatic compounds such as benzo(α)pyrene. Depending on their quality, coal fuels may also emit sulphur oxides and other toxic elements, including arsenic, lead and fluorine. When these fuels are used in poorly ventilated conditions and burned in open fires or inefficient stoves, conditions common in households throughout the developing world, indoorair pollution due to SFU will result in substantial health effects.