An advocacy group on lung health plans to work with health authorities in 12 countries from 2010 to reduce indoor fuel burning, which causes respiratory diseases and lung cancer and kills 2 million people a year.

More than 3 billion people, or half of the world’s population, still use biomass fuels like wood, dung and coal for cooking and heating in poorly ventilated homes and this results in severe indoor air pollution.

Indoor air pollution caused more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide in 2000, according to the World Health Organization, 90 percent of them occurring poor communities in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.