Distribution of sources of household air pollution: a cross-sectional study in Cameroon.

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) is a recognised risk factor for many diseases, including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular/circulatory disorders, adverse pregnancy outcomes and cataracts. Population exposure to biomass fuels, including wood, varies among countries and from one fuel source to the other. This study aimed to investigate the different sources of HAP in peri-urban and rural communities in Cameroon.

Pneumonia and Exposure to Household Air Pollution in Children Under the Age of 5 Years in Rural Malawi: Findings From the Cooking and Pneumonia Study.

Background: Exposure to household air pollution is associated with an increased risk of pneumonia in children in low- and middle-income countries; however, exposure-response data are limited, and there are uncertainties around the extent to which biomass-fueled cookstoves can reduce these exposures.

Research Question: What is the association between exposure to household air pollution and pneumonia in children under the age of 5 years in rural Malawi and what are the effects of a biomass-fueled cookstove intervention on personal exposure to household air pollution?

Study Design And Methods: We measured personal exposure to carbon monoxide (CO; 48 hours of continuous measurement and transcutaneous carboxyhemoglobin) every 6 months in children who participated in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a cleaner burning biomass-fueled cookstove intervention to prevent pneumonia in children under the age of 5 years in rural Malawi (the Cooking And Pneumonia Study). Exposure-response and multivariable analyses were done.

Understanding the Thickness Effect on the Tensile Strength Property of DyneemaHB26 Laminates.

In this study, an experimental and numerical investigation is presented on the effect of thickness and test rate within the pseudo static regime on the tensile properties of DyneemaHB26 laminates. A detailed experimental presentation on the tensile testing of different thickness is presented and highlights the commonly seen observation that the tensile strength of a laminate reduces as a function of the specimen thickness. To understand these experimental observations, a constitutive material model of the individual macro fibril is developed and applied to modelling the fibre and upscaling to the laminate.

Collecting urban health indicators from routinely available sources: development and piloting of a tool for the collection of existing data for EURO-URHIS 2.

EURO-URHIS 2 aimed to collect comparable health indicators across a large number of urban areas (UAs) across Europe and Vietnam using four data collection tools. This paper outlines the process for the selection of indicators to be collected from routinely available sources, and the piloting of the data collection tool. A long-list of indicators potentially collectable from routinely available sources was generated by the EURO-URHIS 2 consortium.

Factors influencing household uptake of improved solid fuel stoves in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative systematic review.

Household burning of solid fuels in traditional stoves is detrimental to health, the environment and development. A range of improved solid fuel stoves (IS) are available but little is known about successful approaches to dissemination. This qualitative systematic review aimed to identify factors that influence household uptake of IS in low- and middle-income countries.

Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) established the goal of a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR; number of maternal deaths per 100,000 livebirths) between 1990 and 2015. We aimed to measure levels and track trends in maternal mortality, the key causes contributing to maternal death, and timing of maternal death with respect to delivery.

Methods: We used robust statistical methods including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) to analyse a database of data for 7065 site-years and estimate the number of maternal deaths from all causes in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013.

Global, regional, and national levels of neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: Remarkable financial and political efforts have been focused on the reduction of child mortality during the past few decades. Timely measurements of levels and trends in under-5 mortality are important to assess progress towards the Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) target of reduction of child mortality by two thirds from 1990 to 2015, and to identify models of success.

Methods: We generated updated estimates of child mortality in early neonatal (age 0-6 days), late neonatal (7-28 days), postneonatal (29-364 days), childhood (1-4 years), and under-5 (0-4 years) age groups for 188 countries from 1970 to 2013, with more than 29,000 survey, census, vital registration, and sample registration datapoints.

Control of household air pollution for child survival: estimates for intervention impacts.

Background: Exposure to household air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels affects 2.8 billion people in developing countries, including children and pregnant women. The aim of this review is to propose intervention estimates for child survival outcomes linked to HAP.

UK health performance: findings of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

Background: The UK has had universal free health care and public health programmes for more than six decades. Several policy initiatives and structural reforms of the health system have been undertaken. Health expenditure has increased substantially since 1990, albeit from relatively low levels compared with other countries.

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

Background: Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis. No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time.

Methods: We estimated deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; sum of years lived with disability [YLD] and years of life lost [YLL]) attributable to the independent effects of 67 risk factors and clusters of risk factors for 21 regions in 1990 and 2010.

Effect of reducing indoor air pollution on women's respiratory symptoms and lung function: the RESPIRE Randomized Trial, Guatemala.

Exposure to household wood smoke from cooking is a risk factor for chronic obstructive lung disease among women in developing countries. The Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects (RESPIRE) is a randomized intervention trial evaluating the respiratory health effects of reducing indoor air pollution from open cooking fires. A total of 504 rural Mayan women in highland Guatemala aged 15-50 years, all using traditional indoor open fires, were randomized to either receive a chimney woodstove (plancha) or continue using the open fire.

Self-rated health among Mayan women participating in a randomised intervention trial reducing indoor air pollution in Guatemala.

Background: Indoor air pollution (IAP) from solid fuels is a serious health problem in low-income countries that can be alleviated using improved stoves. Although women are the principal users, few studies have investigated the self-assessed impact of the stoves on their health and lives.

Methods: This study was conducted in rural highland Guatemala, involving 89 intervention and 80 control Mayan Indian young women (mean 27.

Eye discomfort, headache and back pain among Mayan Guatemalan women taking part in a randomised stove intervention trial.

Background: Indoor air pollution (IAP) from combustion of biomass fuels represents a global health problem, estimated to cause 1.6 million premature deaths annually.

Aims: RESPIRE (Randomised Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects) Guatemala is the first randomised controlled trial ever performed on health effects from solid fuel use.