Washington — A report from the respected U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides another endorsement of the movement to convert the world to clean cookstoves, lending further momentum to a campaign begun a year ago by the United Nations in partnership with the German, Dutch, Norwegian, Peruvian and U.S. governments.

Almost 3 billion people in the world — most of them women and children — are exposed to indoor air pollution emitted by cookfires burning carbon-based materials. Their level of exposure is severe enough to cause a range of respiratory diseases — such as pneumonia, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — leaving many developing world families with health consequences comparable to those of heavy tobacco smoking.

“The primitive fires typically fill homes with dense smoke, blackening walls and ceilings and sickening those within,” said the report.

The NIH authors commend the year-old Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which aims to spur the adaptation of efficient stoves using clean-burning fuels in 100 million homes by 2020. The ongoing role of the NIH, according to an agency press release, will be to support the effort with thorough research identifying the most efficient, cost-effective means to achieve the goals.

The NIH report underscores the importance of fulfilling consumer demand for an improved device to drive the market and propel wide-scale conversion to cleaner cooking technologies.

“Promoting sustained changes in the way food is cooked to reduce [indoor air pollution] requires a fundamental understanding of traditions, social interactions and family dynamics,” the study states.

In an editorial advocating the clean cookstove movement published in May, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will be conducting the necessary analysis to make the transition smooth.

“The Alliance will drive research and development efforts to make new stoves that are more durable, affordable and tailored to the cooking needs of specific cultures,” said the Clinton editorial co-authored by actress Julia Roberts, who is also lending her celebrity to this cause. “It will help bring down costs, trade barriers, and other obstacles that have prevented cookstoves from being used widely.”

Cookstoves burning cleaner fuels instead of carbon-based fuels also will remove harmful emissions from the air, reducing global warming and climate change, according to the study.

The NIH report calls for more-thorough research to ascertain precisely how much indoor emissions must be reduced to produce health benefits. In addition, the report recommends further analysis on whether cooking emissions are linked to more health problems beyond those currently known, such as low birth weight, cataracts, cardiovascular disease, asthma and tuberculosis.

The authors estimate the cost of a research program with this scope at $150 million to $200 million.

Five U.S. government agencies, more than 60 foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and businesses are partners in the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. More information on the alliance is available on its website.