Abstract
Combustion of biomass fuels (wood and charcoal) for cooking releases smoke that contains health damaging pollutants. Women and children are the most affected. Exposure to biomass smoke is associated with acute respiratory infections (ARI). This study investigated the prevalence of ARI potentially caused by smoke from wood and charcoal stoves in Western Sierra Leone, as these two fuels are the predominant fuel types used for cooking. A cross sectional study was conducted for 520 women age 15–45 years; and 520 children under 5 years of age in homes that burn wood and charcoal. A questionnaire assessing demographic, household and exposure characteristics and ARI was administered to every woman who further gave information for the child. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was continuously monitored in fifteen homes. ARI prevalence revealed 32% and 24% for women, 64% and 44% for children in homes with wood and charcoal stoves, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders for each group, the odds ratio of having suffered from ARI was similar for women, but remained large for children in homes with wood stoves relative to charcoal stoves (OR = 1.14, 95%CI: 0.71–1.82) and (OR = 2.03, 95%CI: 1.31–3.13), respectively. ARI prevalence was higher for children in homes with wood stoves compared with homes with charcoal stoves, but ARI prevalence for both types of fuels is higher compared with reported prevalence elsewhere. To achieve a reduction in ARI would require switching from wood and charcoal to cleaner fuels.
Highlights
It has been estimated that approximately three billion people worldwide rely on biomass fuels for domestic cooking [1]
It is well documented that exposure to biomass smoke is associated with acute respiratory infections (ARI) in children [5], and ARI, tuberculosis, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adults [6,7,8,9,10]
We report the relative concentration of Suspended particulate matter (SPM) as count per minute (CPM), and the description and conversion of CPM to mass concentration has been described elsewhere [22]
Summary
It has been estimated that approximately three billion people worldwide rely on biomass fuels (wood, charcoal, animal dung, crop residues, etc.) for domestic cooking [1]. These fuels are at the bottom of the energy ladder, and are classified as crude/dirty fuels [2]. A number of studies have examined the association between smoke and some of its constituents derived from burning biomass and ARI in children of developing countries [12,13,14,15,16] Some of these authors used the type of cooking fuel to group children into categories of exposure [14,15]. They used children from homes using cleaner fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas or electricity as a reference group to determine the health effects caused by biomass smoke
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
