To coincide with the 14th meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, whose theme this year is energy for sustainable development, the World Health Organization (WHO) is launching a new report which shows how investment in cleaner fuels will save millions of lives and produce a seven-fold economic benefit.
Every year, indoor air pollution from cooking with solid fuels is responsible for 1.5 million deaths. Progress since 1990 has been negligible. To halve, by 2015, the population cooking with solid fuels, 485,000 people need to gain access to cleaner fuels every day over the next ten years.
The report titled "Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health" will be launched at the UN Press Briefing Room (Room 226), UN Headquarters, New York, on May 4 by Dr. Carlos Corvalan, Coordinator, Department of Public Health and Environment, WHO. Eva Rehfuess is the author of the report and the officer responsible for the WHO's programme on household energy and health.
In Geneva, the report will be released at the Palais de Nations, Salle I on May 3 at 2.30 p.m. Geneva Time by Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health and Environment, WHO.
The report can be downloaded from: http://www.who.int/indoorair/publications/fuelforlife/en/index.html