The Economic Costs of Indoor Air Pollution: New Results for Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste

Abstract

ABSTRACT Indoor air pollution (IAP) from biomass fuels is clearly linked to acute respiratory infections (ARI) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and there is evidence of links to tuberculosis and lung cancer. Children under 5 years and adult women are particularly affected. The resulting morbidity and premature mortality can be calculated, and assessed in monetary terms through the use of the Cost of Illness (COI), the Human Capital Approach (HCA) and Value of Statistical Life (VSL) analysis. This article presents new results of the economic cost of health impacts for Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste and discusses policy implications of these findings. These three countries, in which the World Bank recently undertook Country Environmental Analysis (CEA), were selected as they span large differences in income, population, mortality rates, and household prevalence in solid fuel use for cooking.