CArE-Homes: Clean air engineering for homes

Indoor air pollution (IAP) exposure leads to 4.3 million premature deaths globally, with the majority in least developed countries (LDCs) and lower-middle income countries (LMICs) within the official development assistance (ODA) list of countries.

Many of these countries lack information on IAP exposure due to inadequate resources. CArE-Homes is a seed fund project, awarded by the University of Surrey under the Research England’s Global Challenge Research Funds (GCRF).

The project includes 11 development assistance committee (DAC) listed countries where it aims to co-design an internationally comparable study using low-cost IAP monitoring devices in LDC/LMIC homes. The ultimate aim is to propose feasible and applicable exposure reduction strategies tailored to low-income homes in these countries. Its activities include joint online workshops, researchers exchange programs and pilot studies to improve IAQ in homes in ODA countries and globally.

With a collaborative vision of ‘clean indoor air for all’, CArE-Homes aims to establish a multidisciplinary team to understand emissions, utilize low-cost pollution monitoring technologies and propose exposure reduction strategies in homes in selected ODA cities.

This will be achieved through collecting and analysing primary aerosol and CO₂ concentration data as well as temperature and relative humidity in low-income homes in LDC/LMIC cities. Building on CArE-Homes findings, the team aspires to develop larger research grant proposals with involved partners in future.

CArE-Homes aims to develop a scientific framework for managing indoor air pollution impacts on the health of low-income home residents in selected ODA cities. This project will help set-up and sustain an international networking platform, building upon Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) collaborators through carrying out pilot studies in ODA cities.

CArE-Homes will collaborate with 11 DAC-listed countries including four LDCs (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania), three LMICs (Egypt, India, Kenya), and four upper-middle countries (China, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq). CArE-Homes will make novel contributions to the indoor air pollution problem in low-income homes of the chosen cities building upon past and ongoing projects through:

• Researchers exchange
• Pilot studies and workshops
• Capacity-building via knowledge sharing
• Producing joint publications
• Leveraging this track-record for developing further research proposals
• Improving IAQ in homes in ODA countries and globally.