Household Air Pollution from Solid Fuel Combustion Smoke and Global Health Equali

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Household solid fuel smoke is the most important environmental risk factor for the global burden of disease, affecting 2.8 billion people that constitute 40% of the world population and thrice the number who smoke tobacco. Household solid fuel smoke is not simply a problem for developing countries. Wood burning populations in developed countries are also at risk from these exposures. Yet, solid fuel smoke as a risk factor for disease is largely ignored in the United States due to insufficient research on its adverse respiratory effects; the overwhelming interest in cigarette smoking as the major risk factor for lung disease; and mistaken perception that wood (being natural) is benign. Limited data suggest that wood smoke is a risk factor for asthma and COPD in the United States and the attributable risk for cardiopulmonary disease from wood smoke exposure in the United States is likely to increase. There are however major critical gaps in research related to the health effects of this exposure. Without meeting the critical gaps, this field of research is unlikely to advance. This application will help support the "Household Air Pollution from Solid Fuel Combustion Smoke and Global Health Equality - A Scientific Workshop" with additional support being requested from professional scientific organizations. The workshop will be held in November 2014 at the Santa Ana Pueblo, NM and will invite a faculty of eminent scientists. At the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to explai health effects by solid fuel smoke exposure in developed and developing countries; identify components of solid fuel smoke and biomarkers of solid fuel smoke exposure; understand mechanisms related to cardiopulmonary diseases due to solid fuel smoke exposure; and describe useful intervention strategies for developed and developing countries. The format of the workshop will involve eight formal sessions distributed over a two-day period interspersed with breaks to facilitate informal discussions. The American Thoracic Society's Environmental Health Policy Committee is the organizing committee for this workshop. The proceedings of the workshop will be published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society journal. The workshop will thus play an important role in increasing awareness about the health effects of solid fuel smoke inhalation among physicians and patients and promoting preventive initiatives through education, research, and policy change. This workshop is timely since there is a greater political and public awareness of this exposure in the United States and the world, spearheaded by the former Secretary of State, Ms. Hillary Clinton and the formation of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves at Washington, D.C. The rationale for the workshop is therefore directly linked to the NIEHS mission to "reduce the burden of human illness by understanding how the environment influences the development of disease".