Second Copenhagen Consensus: Air Pollution Perspective, Shah

Perspective Paper

Air pollution causes 2.5 million deaths each year, the vast majority in the developing world. Improving both indoor and outdoor air quality - in particularly moving away from indoor cooking fires - would be a cost-effective way to improve quality of life.

While there are many options available for reducing exposure to indoor air pollution, there is limited evidence on their effectiveness in real-life conditions for modeling the cost-benefit of these options. These include behavioral dimensions such as location of cooking area (indoor vs. outdoor; separate indoor area) and location of young children in relation to cooking area (carrying babies while cooking; playing near cooking area).