Abstract
Household air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions is an important cause of disease burden. Little is known about the chemical composition and sources of household air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa, and how they differ between rural and urban homes. We analyzed the chemical composition and sources of fine particles (PM2.5) in household cooking areas of multiple neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana, and in peri-urban (Banjul) and rural (Basse) areas in The Gambia. In Accra, biomass burning accounted for 39-62% of total PM2.5 mass in the cooking area in different neighborhoods; the absolute contributions were 10-45 μg/m(3). Road dust and vehicle emissions comprised 12-33% of PM2.5 mass. Solid waste burning was also a significant contributor to household PM2.5 in a low-income neighborhood but not for those living in better-off areas. In Banjul and Basse, biomass burning was the single dominant source of cooking-area PM2.5, accounting for 74-87% of its total mass; the relative and absolute contributions of biomass smoke to PM2.5 mass were larger in households that used firewood than in those using charcoal, reaching as high as 463 μg/m(3) in Basse homes that used firewood for cooking. Our findings demonstrate the need for policies that enhance access to cleaner fuels in both rural and urban areas, and for controlling traffic emissions in cities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Highlights
Around 2.8 billion people rely on solid fuels for their energy needs.[1]
Burning solid fuels in open stoves is associated with high levels of health damaging pollutants, including fine particles (PM2.5; particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm)
In addition to household’s own fuel, Household air pollution (HAP) in urban households is affected by the extent of biomass use in the neighborhood, and by traffic-related sources.[8]
Summary
Around 2.8 billion people rely on solid fuels (biomass and coal) for their energy needs.[1]. Even in Banjul households that use charcoal, biomass smoke contributed 102 μg/m3 of PM2.5 mass, larger than total mass in any of the Accra sites This occurred partly because The. Gambian households tended to cook for longer hours than those in Accra, where purchasing street food for meals is common. It may be partly due to differences in cooking area configuration cooking occurs in an enclosed location in about 80% of The Gambia homes, and in open air in 54% of all Accra homes (86% of those that used biomass).[8,14] There were some sea salt aerosols (13 μg/m3) in Banjul samples, but not in those from Basse, which is located hundreds of kilometers from the coast (Figure 1). There is some evidence from high-income countries that chemical characteristics of particles may be a determinant of toxicity above and beyond its mass and size distribution, this question is the subject of ongoing research.[31−34] There is a need to study whether the differences in the chemical composition of PM across neighborhoods and areas affect their hazardous effects for human health
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