Kerosene in India is primarily available as a subsidized commodity for household use, and was added to the basket of Public Distribution System (PDS) commodities during the 2nd Five Year Plan (FYP). Kerosene has been continued as a subsidised fuel to provide affordable cooking and illumination (lighting) to households for the last 60 years.

Household air pollution is the single most important environmental health risk worldwide, and women and children are at particularly high risk from exposure. This global report provides new data on the still-pervasive use of polluting fuels for home cooking, lighting and heating, as well as an in-depth look at the impacts on women and children.

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says despite more than a decade of work to reduce domestic air pollution sources, progress toward universal access to clean cooking fuels remains far too slow.

This briefing note synthesizes the latest evidence on the impacts of traditional biomass cooking and discusses options for addressing these challenges, with recommendations for policy-makers in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa.

The steep decline in the world oil price in the last quarter of 2014 slashed fuel price subsidies. Several governments responded by announcing that they would remove subsidies for one or more fuels and move to market-based pricing with full cost recovery.