This 82-page guide is available in English and is intended for intermediate level public health professionals and environmental health specialists. It outlines a method for estimating the disease burden at a national or local level caused by household exposures to indoor smoke from solid fuels. Solid fuel use is defined as the household combustion of coal or biomass (such as dung, charcoal, wood, or crop residues). Worldwide, approximately 50% of all households and 90% of rural households utilize solid fuels for cooking or heating. Solid fuels are commonly burned in inefficient simple stoves and in poorly ventilated conditions. In such situations, solid fuel use generates substantial emissions of many health-damaging pollutants, including respirable particulates and carbon monoxide, and results in indoor air pollution exposures often far exceeding national standards and international guidelines.
