About 1.5 million people worldwide die each year because of health problems linked to indoor air pollution from burning coal, wood or dung for cooking and heating, the World Health Organization said Monday.

The UN health agency called on the governments of developing countries to do more to prevent the deaths, as it published its first country-by-country estimates on the health problems caused by indoor air pollution.

Exposure to polluted air released by burning the fuels is linked to illnesses such as pneumonia among children and chronic respiratory diseases in adults.

In the 21 developing countries that were worst affected, indoor air pollution caused close to five per cent of deaths and cases of diseases in 2002 (or the latest year that data was available), the WHO said.

"The prevention potential is enormous," said Susanne Weber-Mosdorf, WHO's assistant director-general for sustainable development and healthy environments.

"Solutions are available, and it is our international responsibility to promote the health and well-being of those affected, who are mostly women and children," Weber-Mosdorf said in a release.

The agency said about 80 per cent of deaths worldwide from indoor air pollution occur in 11 countries:

• Afghanistan.
• Angola.
• Bangladesh.
• Burkina Faso.
• China.
• Congo.
• Ethiopia.
• India.
• Nigeria.
• Pakistan.
• Tanzania.

A shift towards cleaner and more efficient fuels such as biogas, liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene could largely eliminate the health risks and prevent deaths, the health body said.

In the short term, more fuel-efficient and cleaner technologies such as better cooking stoves would help cut indoor pollution considerably, the WHO said.

World Health Organization officials said they hope their estimates will help governments set priorities for creating prevention measures and assessing the performance of the policies over time.