Quantifying national household air pollution (HAP) exposure to PM2.5 in rural and urban areas

Abstract

According to WHO (World Health Organization), in 2020, 14% of people in global urban areas relied on polluting solid fuels and technologies, compared with 52% of the rural population. The health impacts of such inequality are massive. It was estimated that 3.2 million premature deaths per year (2020), particularly in low-income and middle-income countries due to household air pollution (HAP). Several studies provide estimates of the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from household air pollution (HAP-PM2.5) for users of different fuel/cookstove types in rural and urban areas. However, hardly any studies estimate the population-weighted exposure to HAP-PM2.5 at the global scale. A Bayesian hierarchical model was developed to estimate PM2.5 exposure coefficients and their uncertainties for an annual average of HAP-PM2.5 personal exposure. The predicted HAP-PM2.5 exposure at the user level was used to estimate the national-level exposure for the population living in urban and rural areas. The results suggest that switching from polluting solid fuels (biomass, charcoal, coal) to cleaner fuels (gas and electricity) for heating and cooking can potentially reduce the national-level HAP-PM2.5 personal exposure on average by 53%. However, there exists a significant disparity between rural and urban areas, partly reflecting inequality in energy access. More specifically, switching from polluting solid fuels for heating and cooking to cleaner fuels can reduce the personal exposure to HAP-PM2.5 in rural areas by 54% and in urban areas by 38%. The study indicates that increased access to clean fuels and improved stove interventions are needed to achieve the goals of universal energy access and equality between urban and rural areas.