page_title: Cook stove
section_title: Health impacts on women and children
hierarchical_section_title: Cook stove / Health impacts on women and children
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Inselfest im Kloster Panagia Kira auf Nisyros/Südägäis
context_page_description: A biomass cook stove is heated by burning wood, charcoal, animal dung or crop residue. Cook stoves are commonly used for cooking and heating food in rural households. Nearly half of the world's population, approximately 3 billion people, use solid fuels such as coal, wood, animal dung, and crop residues for their domestic energy needs. Among those who use indoor cooking stoves, the poorest families living in rural areas most frequently use solid fuels, where it continues to be relied on by up to 90% of households. Households in developing countries consume significantly less energy than those in developed countries; however, over 50% of the energy is for cooking food. The average rural family spends 20% or more of its income purchasing wood or charcoal for cooking. The urban poor also frequently spend a significant portion of their income on the purchase of wood or charcoal. Deforestation and erosion often result from harvesting wood for cooking fuel.
context_section_description: Exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) from the burning of fossil fuels for cooking, heating and lighting accounts for a significant portion of the global burden of death and disease and disproportionately affects women and children in developing regions. In developing regions, women are more often responsible for childcare and household duties such as cooking. This places women and children at the greatest exposure of IAP from burning solid fuel during cooking and heating of the home.
  
  Examples of specific health impact from the use of indoor cooking units includes new cases of asthma in children.   The use of indoor cooking units has been shown to increase the risk of developing asthma by 2 to 3.5 times when controlling for all other factors.  These and other studies show that in addition to the irritants being inhaled, exposure to the indoor cooking units actually changes children's pulmonary response to the irritants with a more reactive and inflammatory response that may last well into adulthood. Given that indoor cooking units are in use in the most rural and remote communities, the development of asthma by a child can create a significant burden in a family and pose a significant risk for death if children are subject to an asthma attack and are without access to rescue inhaler or emergency medical care
caption: Built-in wood stove cooking food
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