Indoor Air Pollution

Key Findings Researchers According to the WHO Global and Regional Burden of Disease Report (2004) acute respiratory infections from indoor air pollution—from burning wood, animal dung, and other biofuels— are estimated to kill one million children annually in developing countries. A particularly heavy toll falls on poor families in South Asia (42% of total deaths) and Africa (28%). This has prompted the World Bank to include reduction of indoor air pollution as a critical element of its environment strategy.  Although the health effects of indoor air pollution are severe, information remains largely anecdotal. There is also a general lack of data on indoor air quality due to the high cost of indoor air monitoring.

Video clip of a typical kitchen in rural Bangladesh         Determinants of Indoor Air Pollution Ongoing Research-Controlled Experiments

Under the leadership of Susmita Dasgupta (DECRG) and David Wheeler (Center for Global Change), a team of researchers studied the determinants of indoor air pollution in Bangladesh using the latest air monitoring technology and data from a national household survey in 2003-04. The research found that differences in certain household characteristics—construction materials, space configurations, cooking locations, and the placement and use of doors and windows—produce large differences in exposure to indoor air pollution. More about determinants of indoor air pollution >>

In 2005-06 the team conducted a series of controlled experiments to assess housing characteristics—such as building materials, cooking locations, and window/door configurations—that promote cleaner air.  

Key findings:

• Pollution from the cooking area diffuses into living spaces rapidly and completely.
• If cooking with clean fuels is not possible, then building the kitchen with porous construction material and providing proper ventilation in cooking areas will yield a better indoor health environment.
• Outdoor air pollution affects significantly indoor pollution and vice versa.
• The optimal cooking location should take ”seasonality” into account.  During the polluted high-dust season, air quality in interior kitchens is much better than in outdoor or detached cooking facilities.
• It is important to factor in the interaction between outdoor and indoor air pollution in efforts to improve indoor air quality. For example, the role of outdoor pollution in determining indoor air quality implies a potential problem with promoting the widespread use of chimneys to improve indoor air. The use of chimneys may improve indoor air in individual households, or when dwellings are dispersed, but cooking smoke emerging from chimneys in a cluster of households is likely to aggravate outdoor air pollution. The polluted outdoor environment, in turn, will adversely affect indoor air quality for the entire cluster. More about controlled experiments>>

Researchers

• Susmita Dasgupta is Lead Environmental Economist in the Development Research Group (Sustainable Rural and Urban Development Team). Her research interests include the analysis of health hazards of pollution, the poverty-environment nexus, priorities in pollution control, estimation of pollution abatement cost, monitoring and enforcement of regulations, and cleaner production alternatives.
• David Wheeler is Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development. His research interests include climate change, natural resource conservation, infrastructure development in Africa, sustainable development indicators, and the allocation of development aid. From 1993-2006, as Lead Economist in the World Bank's Development Research Group, he led a team that partnered with environmental researchers and policymakers in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, and Vietnam.
• Mainul Huq is a consultant to the Development Research Group. He has extensive research experience in development economics and environmental issues.
• M. Khaliquzzaman  is a consultant with the World Bank in Dhaka. He has more than 20 years of experience in studies related to ambient and indoor air quality. He has been involved measuring airborne particulates using PIXE as an analytical tool in Bangladesh. 
• Kiran Pandey is Senior Environmental Economist at the Global Environment Facility.  His interests include indicators and system development for environmental health and environmental policy and global environment financing and reform.  He is also member of the World Health Organization working group on urban air pollution and WHO's Global Burden of Disease: Comparative Quantification of Health Risks Study.