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Over 3 billion people in the world rely on open fires and rudimentary stoves for cooking food and heating their homes. The combustion of solid fuels like wood, dung, agricultural waste and coal pollutes the household environment with harmful particulate matter and other toxins that are estimated to result in over 2.6 million premature deaths a year (GBD 2016). More than a million additional deaths are attributable to the contribution of emissions from household air pollution (HAP) to ambient (outdoor) air pollution.
NIH has invested in research and training to reduce the impact of HAP, and to improve the health of those who rely on cookstoves. NIH hosts the Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network and is a co-sponsor, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial. Numerous NIH Institutes, Centers and Office at the NIH fund research on the health effects of biomass fuels and on interventions to reduce the health burden of cooking and heating with rudimentary stoves and fuels.