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The World Health Organisation report “Domestic energy and health: fuels for a better life” focuses upon one of the most serious and currently least considered consequences of poverty. This is the accumulation of smoke inside homes in the poorest countries, which, since they do not have a proper kitchen or a clean fuel are forced to use a fire on which they burn firewood, manure or coal. 

This smoke is extremely harmful since it contains particles of nitrogen oxide, benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and many other chemical products which are damaging to our health. It must also be pointed out that the people who are most exposed to this environment are often the most vulnerable, such as pregnant women and children, who inhale an amount of smoke equivalent to consuming two packets of cigarettes per day. 
 
The consequences of this are simply terrifying. The WHO estimates that every year there are over one and a half million deaths due to this pollution inside houses. Several million people more have breathing difficulties, sore eyes and respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema, bronchitis and lung cancer, among others. Since this usually affects people who are extremely poor and do not receive health care, it is difficult to improve their situation. 

Gas and paraffin, clean fuels

However, the solution is clear. In a study carried out in rural areas of Tamil Nadu, in India, breathable particle levels in homes where they cook using gas or paraffin are compared to those in homes where they use firewood or manure. The levels of toxic particle concentration in the air were twenty times lower in the former scenario. 
It must also be taken into consideration that the use of these fuels would represent a significant time saving in terms of collecting fuel and would also be safer, since according to reports from conflict zones, sadly many children and women are attacked whilst out collecting firewood. 

Furthermore, safer domestic energy enables people to boil water and heat food more thoroughly and, as such, helps to reduce the incidence of disease. As a further consequence, it must be emphasised that reducing the use of firewood and coal in kitchens would lead to a reduction of greenhouse effect gases and would slow down the felling rate in forests. 

Objectives for the year 2015
 
The United Nations Millennium Project, an international agreement signed in 2000 with the objective of fighting against poverty, established the objective of halving the number of people without access to modern fuels and appropriate kitchens by the year 2015. This would mean that 1.7 billion people would have access to natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, biogas and other modern fuels.  

During recent years, there have been several initiatives around the world. For example, in China no less than two-hundred million kitchens were distributed by the Chinese National Programme for Better Kitchens. Meanwhile, the Indian National Programme distributed over 33 million kitchens between 1983 and 2000, whilst in Africa over five million better kitchens are now in use. However, despite the urgency of the situation there is still a long way to go before the objective is met. 

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