Due to combustion of solid fuels, indoor air pollution seems to be a major contributor to disease in India, but few quantitative exposure assessment studies are available. This study quantified daily average concentrations of respirable particulates in 420 rural homes of Andhra Pradesh and recorded time activity data of 1400 individuals to reconstruct 24-hour average exposures.

This paper estimates the economic burden of respiratory illness in rural UP (Uttar Pradesh), a state in North India. This is based on a large comprehensive survey covering a sample of 7564 households in 6 districts and 51 villages in UP. The economic value of the days lost due to illness in one month is 4233 million rupees. Cleaner fuels, health education and better health care can avoid some of these expenditures.

Firewood, agricultural residue and animal dung are commonly called biomass fuels. In Bangladesh, biomass is obtained from three sources - trees, field crops and livestock. Biomass is important for the household purpose, mainly cooking. To save fuel consumption and time, and keep the kitchen clean and free of smoke, an improved cookstove programme has been started by the Government of Bangladesh.

How some villages stayed afloat even as neighbouring lands parched