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Household air pollution news, resources and funding for global health researchers
Over 3 billion people in the world rely on open fires and rudimentary stoves for cooking food and heating their homes. The combustion of solid fuels like wood, dung, agricultural waste and coal pollutes the household environment with harmful particulate matter and other toxins that are estimated to result in over 2.6 million premature deaths a year ( GBD 2016 ). More than a million additional deaths are attributable to the contribution of emissions from household air pollution (HAP) to ambient (outdoor) air pollution.
NIH has invested in research and training to reduce the impact of HAP, and to improve the health of those who rely on cookstoves. NIH hosts the Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network and is a co-sponsor, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial . Numerous NIH Institutes, Centers and Office at the NIH fund research on the health effects of biomass fuels and on interventions to reduce the health burden of cooking and heating with rudimentary stoves and fuels.
Recent News
- Effects of Cooking with Liquefied Petroleum Gas or Biomass on Stunting in Infants , authored by HAPIN Trial investigators, supported by Fogarty and other NIH Institutes and Centers
New England Journal of Medicine, January 4, 2024 - Liquefied Petroleum Gas or Biomass Cooking and Severe Infant Pneumonia , authored by HAPIN Trial investigators, supported by Fogarty and other NIH Institutes and Centers
New England Journal of Medicine, January 4, 2024 - Fidelity and adherence to a liquefied petroleum gas stove and fuel intervention: The multi-country Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial , authored by HAPIN Trial investigators, supported by Fogarty and other NIH Institutes and Centers
Environment International, September 2023 - Voices From the Field: Cognitive Assessments of Children Provided Insight into Andean Culture
Global Environmental Health, August 2023 - Effects of a LPG stove and fuel intervention on adverse maternal outcomes: A multi-country randomized controlled trial conducted by the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) , authored by HAPIN Trial investigators, supported by Fogarty and other NIH Institutes and Centers
Environment International, August 2023 - Exposure-response relationships for personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2·5), carbon monoxide, and black carbon and birthweight: an observational analysis of the multicountry Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial , authored by HAPIN Trial investigators, supported by Fogarty and other NIH Institutes and Centers
The Lancet, Planetary Health, May 7, 2023
- Assessing the Effects of Cooking Fuels on Anopheles Mosquito Behavior: An Experimental Study in Rural Rwanda
co-authored by Fogarty's Dr. Joshua Rosenthal
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, February 21, 2022 - Profile: Fogarty Fellow Dr. Eric Coker sheds new light on Uganda's indoor air pollution
Global Health Matters, May / June 2019 - Building global capacity for air quality research:
Q and A with Dr. Jonathan Samet
Global Health Matters, Mar / Apr 2019
- NIH-funded research on the health effects of household energy combustion from NIH RePORT
- Household Air Pollution Investigation Network (HAPIN) with NIH Common Fund support
- Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network
- Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (including NIH) lung disease research funding cycle
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID):
- Clean Cooking Alliance , formerly the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
- Health Effects Institute (HEI):
- Report: Household Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Disease
HEI Household Air Pollution Working Group, July 2018
- Report: Household Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Disease
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME): Air pollution
- Lancet Commissions:
- Pollution and Health , October 19, 2017
- Household Air Pollution , September 3, 2014
- Household Air Pollution Intervention Tool (HAPIT)
Updated August 15, 2025