Indicator Code: INDOOR
Objective: Environmental Health
Policy Category: Environmental Health
Subcategory: Air Pollution (Effects on Humans)
Indicator Short Name: Indoor Air Pollution
Indicator Full Name: Percentage of Population Using Solid Fuels
Indicator Description: Solid fuels include biomass fuels, such as wood, charcoal, crops or other agricultural waste, dung, shrubs and straw, and coal. The use of solid fuels in households is associated with increased mortality from pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory diseases among children as well as increased mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer (where coal is used) among adults (WHO, 2007).
Units: Percentage of population using solid fuels
Country Coverage: 175
Reference Year: 2003
Target: 0 percent
Target Source: Expert judgment
Short Source: Smith et al., 2004
Source: Smith KR, Mehta S, Maeusezahl-Feuz M. 2004. Indoor air pollution from household use of solid fuels. In: Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease Attributable to Selected Major Risk Factors (Ezzati M, Lopez AD, Rodgers A, Murray CJL, eds). Geneva: World Health Organization, 1435-1493
Taiwan: Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management, EPA.
Source URL: http://www.who.int/quantifying
Methodology: These data were collected from national wide household surveys. The survey data of percentage of solid fuel use population cover 52 countries. The rest of the data are generated from models predicting solid fuel use. The model used SFU values from the household fuel use database, and assumed that as countries develop economically, people gradually shift up an energy ladder from solid fuels to cleaner fuels. The final exposed population is calculated as: Household equivalent solid fuel exposed population = population using solid fuel × ventilation factor.
Additional Citations: Desai, M.A., S. Mehta, K.R. Smith. (2004) Indoor smoke from solid fuels: Assessing the environmental burden of disease. Environmental burden of disease series No. 4. Geneva, World Health Organization.
Mehta S, et al. Modeling household solid fuel use towards reporting of the Millennium Development Goal indicator. In press. Energy for Sustainable Development, June 2006.
WHO (World Health Organization). 2007, Country Profiles of Environmental Burden of Disease, Available online at http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/countryprofiles/en/index.html