ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Perceived Health Risks of Exposure to Indoor Air
Pollution from Cooking Fuels in Sindh, Pakistan
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1
School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P.R. China
2
Department of Agricultural Economics, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, Pakistan
Submission date: 2019-05-21
Final revision date: 2019-08-23
Acceptance date: 2019-09-01
Online publication date: 2020-03-02
Publication date: 2020-04-21
Corresponding author
Sana Ullah
School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, P.R. China, Xianlin Campus of NJU, 210023, Nanjing, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(4):2833-2844
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ABSTRACT
Use of solid fuel for cooking is one of the major sources of household indoor air pollution, especially
in developing countries. Around 3 billion people still cook and heat their homes using open fires and
leaky stoves, burning biomass fuel, i.e., wood, crop residues, animal dung, wood charcoal and coal as
their primary source of domestic energy. The present study was conducted to assess the perceived level
of health risks in rural households associated with indoor air pollution caused by cooking (cleaner and
solid) fuels. For this purpose, the data was collected from 700 rural households from 5 districts of Sindh
Province, Pakistan. Using the Probit regression model, factors such as household attributes, cooking
activities, behavioral health effects, physical health effects, and regional factors were controlled.
The results indicate that solid fuels revealed a positive effect on the factors used in the models.
In addition, the pseudo-R2 values indicate the goodness of fit of the models, which varied from 0.16 to
0.38. Which depicts a good fit of our models in explaining the perceived risk of physical and behavioral
effects by polluting indoor air through solid fuels used by households. Furthermore, there is a need for
strong policy-making and public awareness programs to mitigate the exposure and associated health
risks of indoor air pollution. Therefore, public and private organizations and academia working on
environmental health should develop an action plan for reducing indoor air pollution for the future.