Unnoticed danger in the developing countries

Majority of the people living in the advanced society often overlook the problems in the third world countries. Only news people hear from the third world countries are new diseases that are spreading and maybe few major events happening. However when we look deeply into their lives, there are so many problems that something like indoor pollution, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, is not even being considered as a problem.

For us, everyday resources like water and electricity are taken for granted. For those living in the third world countries, they need alternatives. Majority of them use coal and biomass for energy needed to do even the simplest things like cooking stoves. Due to incomplete combustions at homes, women and children are exposed to significant levels of indoor air pollution daily.

Biomass fuel used for energy in poor nations is often made up of animal dung, crop residue, and wood. When these biomasses are burnt, the smoke coming out of the biomass is often very unhealthy for the humans. Majority of the smoke is made up of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, Sulphur oxides, formaldehyde, and polycyclic organic matter. These particles with diameters of below 10 microns can penetrate into the lungs and cause variety of health problems including respiratory illness, chronic pulmonary disease, cancer, tuberculosis, birth/infant problems, and cataract.

For more information:

http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?pid=S0042-96862000000900004&script=sci_arttext