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Household air pollution from cooking fuel and respiratory health risks for children in Pakistan
Authors: Khan MSB, and Lohano HD
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research, First online; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-2513-1
Topic(s): Child health
Household solid fuel use
Morbidity
Pollution
Country: Asia
  Pakistan
Published: JUN 2018
Abstract: Around 2.7 billion people in the world cook with polluting fuels, such as wood, crop residue, animal dung, charcoal, coal, and kerosene. Household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels is recognized as a major risk factor for the disease burden. In this study, we examine the effect of using polluting fuels for cooking on the respiratory health of children in Pakistan. This study uses cross-sectional data from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13, with the sample size of 11,040 children under 5 years of age. Using logistic regression model, we control for factors such as averting activities, child characteristics, household characteristics, mother characteristics, and the unobserved factors using fixed effects. The results show that children in households using polluting fuels are 1.5 times more likely to have symptoms of acute respiratory infection (ARI) than children in households using cleaner fuels. KEYWORDS: Acute respiratory infection; Air pollution; Child health; Morbidity; Solid fuels, polluting fuels