Thread by @WHO

Lighting a fire to cook a meal 🍳, light a home 🛋️, heat a room 🌡️.

For billions of people, these simple daily acts can turn the household into a dangerous place.

Exposure to household #AirPollution produced kills 3.8 million people each year.

👉bit.ly/2EhgO0O

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN Over 3 billion people use polluting fuels & devices: wood, coal & dung in simple stoves for their daily cooking. The resulting household #AirPollution is the 🌏’s single greatest environmental health risk.
Most of these people are poor, & live in low- & middle-income countries.

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN These cooking practices are inefficient, and use fuels and technologies that produce high levels of household #AirPollution with a range of health-damaging pollutants, including small soot particles that penetrate deep into the lungs. bit.ly/2EhgO0O

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN In poorly ventilated dwellings, indoor smoke can result in fine particle levels that are 100 times too high. Exposure is particularly high among women and young children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth. bit.ly/2EhgO0O #BreatheLife

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN The small pollutants in indoor smoke inflame the airways & lungs, impairing immune response & reducing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

Household #AirPollution can cause low birth weight, tuberculosis, cataract, nasopharyngeal & laryngeal cancers. #BreatheLife

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN Household #AirPollution causes noncommunicable diseases including:
🔸Stroke
🔸Ischaemic heart disease
🔸Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
🔸Lung cancer

Let's #BreatheLife: bit.ly/2EhgO0O

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN Close to 1/2 of deaths due to #pneumonia among 👧👦 under 5 years are caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household #AirPollution.

It's time to #BreatheLife: bit.ly/2EhgO0O

@WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @pahowho @WHO_Europe @WHOEMRO @WHOWPRO @DrTedros @naokoy21 @DrMariaNeira @UN Clean household interventions such as:
❗Cleaner cookstoves
❗Better ventilation
❗Grid extension
can reduce #AirPollution, improve health, livelihoods, and yield #ClimateChange action. It's time to #BreatheLife! bit.ly/2EhgO0O