Application of WHO’s Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART) - Version 2018

Overview

***Please check the HEART overview page for updated and relevant resources***

Household air pollution (HAP) from inefficient fuel combustion is one of the most important global environmental health risks today. Almost 3 billion people, mainly in low- and middle-income countries, still rely on solid fuels (wood, animal dung, charcoal, crop wastes and coal) burnt in inefficient, highly polluting stoves for cooking and heating. In 2012 alone, no fewer than 4.3 million children and adults died prematurely from illnesses caused by such HAP. Widespread use of polluting cookstoves causes some 4 million premature deaths annually among children and adults from respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, as well as serious injuries from scalding, burns and poisoning. Widespread use of kerosene stoves, heaters and lamps also result in many serious injuries and deaths from scalds, burns and poisoning.

The WHO Guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion (2014) are addressed to public health policy-makers and specialists working on energy, environmental and other issues to introduce the best approaches to reducing HAP: the greatest environmental health risk in the world today.  

The Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART) was developed by WHO and is being pilot-tested for use in conducting rapid situational assessments and stakeholder mapping of a country’s readiness to address access to clean energy technologies. The objective of this tool is to gather and synthesize information on household energy use and its public health impacts in a country and use the information to stimulate informed discussion on evidence-based impacts of household energy interventions, shared responsibilities and coordinated actions, country-specific barriers to implementation and opportunities for the public health sector to accelerate the transition to clean household energy.  

The rapid assessment does not take the place of the detailed economic evaluation required in identifying national energy priorities, national and global mapping of disease prevalence associated with polluting fuels, nor the social and political considerations required for implementing major social interventions to support a transition to clean energy. It does provide a broad overview of the current household energy and health situation, identifies key stakeholders and will ultimately support intersectoral cooperation.