How does smoke affect people’s health?
Because women spend so much time near the fire when cooking they are at acute risk. Women who cook on fires using wood, dung or crop waste are up to four times more likely to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as chronic bronchitis. There is also some evidence that smoke in the home is responsible for diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, low birth weight and infant mortality and temporary blindness. High levels of smoke cause children to suffer from acute lower respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia. A child is two to three times more likely to catch this infection if exposed to smoke in the home. Young children are particularly at risk because under the age of five they spend most of their time with their mothers. Children’s airways are small, therefore more susceptible to inflammation. Their lungs are not fully developed until they are teenagers, so they breathe faster. Also, their immune systems are not fully developed. These facts mean that children absorb
