The article by Priyadarsini et al.[1] is an interesting one as they could identify only six cases suffering from chronic respiratory disease (CRD) from a pool of 1606 participants. While the finding seems to be an under-representation of the fact that 4%–10% of people in India suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,[2,3] it was also observed by the authors that poor ventilation, a recognized risk factor for CRD, was present in 41% households.
Indoor air pollution is generally monitored by portable electrochemical personal exposure monitors. The concept of the microenvironment is important here, as individuals move through numerous diverse microenvironments (indoor and outdoor) that cannot be monitored by fixed-site ambient stations.[4]
As the authors suggested the promotion of clean fuel, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a flagship program launched in 2016, may be added to the article. The scheme aims to make clean fuel available in rural and deprived households and has already reached 90 million households.[5] As cooking is more dangerous than passive smoking, in terms of exposure to carbon monoxide, there should be more discussion on indoor air pollution, a neglected public health topic.
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References
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- 5.Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Government of India. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. [Last accessed on 2022 Mar 16]. Available from: https://www.pmuy.gov.in/index.aspx .