Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Historically, smoking has been identified as the leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the world. However, exposure to other risk factors is increasingly being recognized as a possible cause of COPD. Indoor air pollution, for example, is one of those risk factors. The sources of indoor contamination might be derived from industrial activities and/or indoor activities such as biomass burning for cooking and heating.
About 3 billion people, half the worldwide population, are exposed to smoke from biomass fuel compared with 1.01 billion people who smoke tobacco, which suggests that exposure to biomass smoke might be the biggest risk factor for COPD globally. In populations with low smoking prevalence, such as women in developing countries, it is estimated that 80% of chronic bronchial obstruction cases are attributable to factors other than tobacco.
In this project, we intend to implement the RESPIRA project that is being developed in the highly industrialized area of Estarreja, Portugal, in Tessekéré, Senegal in order to study the contribution of exposure to biomass smoke to chronic pulmonary diseases. The results obtained with these twin projects will allow to better understand the role of the indoor environment on the development and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases in two countries with distinctive contamination sources and with different socio/economic and geographical characteristics