Exposure assessment to indoor smoke pollution in rural Ethiopia
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Date
1999-12
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
Very little effort has been made in Ethiopia to assess the
effect of indoor air p8l1ution at a community level . The aim of the
study was to assess exposure to indoor air pollution at a household
level and fi nd out the feasibility of using questionnaire in
determining exposure level for indoor air pollution . Cross sectional
study design was utilized . Data were collected using
structured questionnaire , in-depth interview with key informants
and child movement recording . Data entry and analysis was done
using Epi Info version 6 statistical software . A total of 600
households from the three study areas (rural high land , rural
lowland and town)were assessed . Three hundred thirty four(55 . 7%)of
the households had high exposure level to indoor smoke . Rural
households were less likely to have adequate smoke clearance
compared to urban households (OR~O . 3 ; 95% CI~O . 16 , 0 . 54) . Being
muslem , married , Mother illiterate and and low economi c status
were less likely to De in the low exposure status with adjusted
OR(95%CI) of 2 . 24(1.39 , 3 . 54) , 0 . 41(0 . 18 , 0 . 82) , 0 . 36(0 . 2 , 0 . 66)and
0 . 34(0 . 22 , 0 . 54) , respectively . The main source of indoor smoke was
biomass fuel used by 98 . 5% for cooking and 29 . 6% for heating . The
majority (94 . 9%) were using open type of stove without flue or
chimney . The median (SO) of e xposure time by the interview and
observation was found to be 180(202) and 125(148) minutes ,
respecti vely . From this we conclude and recommend that biomass
fuels are the principal sources fo r the indoor smoke , the poor
socio-demographic and environmental factors expose children to
indoor smoke and collecting information about exposure time of
under five children using interview and observation methods has no
statistically significant difference . Using cleaner fuels ,
improving social , economic , cultu r al and environmenta l conditions
could i mprove the exposure level to indoor smoke .
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Keywords
Exposure assessment to indoor smoke pollution in rural Ethiopia