Cost of indoor air pollution

Smoke induced from indoor cooking can critically affect women and children.

In 2020 , Nepal Government approved the Kathmandu Valley Air Quality Management Action Plan, a milestone in tackling air pollution. The plan, however, emphasises outdoor air pollution than indoor air pollution. Worryingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in 2020, indoor air pollution (IAP) claimed the lives of over 3.2 million people, including 237,000 children under five. Moreover, IAP is the fourth leading cause of illnesses and deaths in developing countries, primarily due to poor cooking and heating practices. Around 2.4 billion people—a third of the world's population—still cook using open fires or inefficient stoves that rely on kerosene, biomass (wood, cattle dung, crop waste) and coal.