tailieunhanh - Indoor air pollution in developing countries: recommendations for research

although concentrations of sulfur dioxide and black smoke have been significantly decreasing worldwide in the last ten years [20], the present air concentrations in the city of niš are still an important threat to childrens health. It is difficult to determine whether one of the mea- sured pollutants, alone or in combination, was responsible for the observed health effects in children. It is also less clear which pollutants are most responsible for anemia of children. little is known about the possible adverse ef- fects of exposure to complex mixtures of chemicals. In an analytical cross-sectional study, neonates born to mothers exposed to carbon. | Indoor Air 2002 12 198-207 http Printed in Denmark. All rights reserved Copyright Blackwell Munksgaard 2002 INDOOR AIR ISSN 0905-6947 Indoor air pollution in developing countries recommendations for research Abstract Available studies indicate that indoor air pollution IAP from household cooking and space heating apparently causes substantial ill-health in developing countries where the majority of households rely on solid fuels coal or biomass as wood crop residues and dung but there are many remaining uncertainties. To pin down impacts in order to effectively target interventions research is particularly needed in three areas 1 epidemiology case-control studies for tuberculosis TB and cardiovascular disease in women and randomized intervention trials for childhood acute respiratory diseases and adverse pregnancy outcomes 2 exposure assessment techniques and equipment for inexpensive exposure assessment at large scale including national level surveys 3 interrentions engineering and dissemination approaches for improved stoves fuels ventilation and behavior that reliably and economically reduce exposure. There are also important potential synergisms between efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and those to reduce health-damaging emissions from solidfuel stoves. The substitution of biomass by coal being considered in some countries should be pursued with caution because of the known serious health effects of household coal use. K. R. Smith University of California Berkeley California USA and East-West Center Honolulu Hawaii Key words Developing countries Biomass fuels Coal Health effects Improved stoves Cooking. . Smith 140 Warren Hall University of California Berkeley California 94720-7360 USA Tel 510-643-0793 Fax 642-5815 e-mail krksmith@ Adapted from a presentation given at the Collaboration on Setting an Agenda for Research on Health and Environment Centre for Science and the Environment New Delhi October