HOW AIR POLLUTION HARMS OUR HEALTH

Nearly half of the world’s population breathes toxic air each day, including more than 90% of children. For the estimated 2.3 billion people worldwide who rely on solid fuels and open fires for cooking, preparing their morning coffee, as well as their breakfast, lunch, and dinner, often makes conditions even worse.

The World Health Organization reports that household air pollution from cooking is responsible for over 3 million premature deaths annually, affecting primarily women and children who spend more time around the hearth than men.

In places like New Delhi, Lagos, or Dhaka, the smoke from cooking fires mingles with vehicle emissions, industrial pollution, and dust, creating a toxic cocktail somewhat similar to what smoke-blanketed cities in the Northeast U.S. recently grappled with.

A boy joins his mother in the kitchen next to their clean-burning ethanol stove. Household air pollution from cooking is responsible for over 3 million premature deaths annually, affecting primarily women and children who spend more time around the hearth. Photo: Clean Cooking Alliance

But this moment of crisis in the U.S. can serve as a moment of reflection. Imagine, for a moment, if the sky above New York City or Washington, D.C., stayed a dull, smoky gray year-round. It’s difficult to picture, yet it’s a reality that hundreds of millions of people in less affluent nations face each day.

Breathing in this toxic air can lead to a host of health issues, including respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and even premature death. What’s more, the lack of access to clean cooking options is more than a public health issue — it’s also an issue of gender equality and climate change. Girls and women are disproportionately affected by household air pollution and often spend hours each day collecting firewood, time that could be spent on education or income-generating activities. Plus, the huge amounts of black carbon produced by cooking fires is a potent climate warmer.

Source：UN

SSM professional production wood stove,charcoal stove,wood burning stove,cookstove,cleancook stove,pellet stove,SSM stove, small wood stove,biomass cook stove,camping wood stove,wood cook stove；Welcome to inquire：projects@ssmstove.com