In the first of this 2-part series, NIEHS experts discuss the health, safety, environmental, and economic implications of solid fuels in low- and middle-income countries.

Globally, about three billion people use inefficient fires or basic stoves for their daily cooking, lighting, and heating. The smoke from these fires contributes to over 4 million avoidable deaths annually, with women and young children the most affected.

In this 2-part series, experts discuss the health, safety, environmental, and economic implications of solid fuels in low- and middle-income countries. We also consider the goals and challenges of efforts to improve cookstoves to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Part 1: Dr. Claudia Thompson: NIEHS’s Global Work on Indoor Air Pollution

Claudia Thompson, Ph.D., is the branch chief for the Susceptibility and Population Health Branch in the Division of Extramural Research and Training (DERT) at NIEHS. She joined DERT in 1994 as a program administrator for the Superfund Research Program (SRP) and was also responsible for building the grant portfolio in the areas of biomarker (exposure, effect, and susceptibility) development, metabolic toxicology, chemical mixtures research, and molecular mechanisms of metal toxicity and carcinogenicity. In addition to her branch chief responsibilities, Claudia is a senior advisor to the SRP and provides leadership to the Deepwater Horizon Disaster Academic-Community Research Consortium. Prior to joining DERT, she was a research scientist for 10 years in the Laboratory of Biochemical Risk Analysis in the Division of Intramural Research at NIEHS.
 

Other Episodes in the Same Series

• Cookstoves and Indoor Air Pollution (Part II)

For More Information

• WHO Fact Sheet: Household Air Pollution and Health