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Exposure to Biomass Fuel Smoke and Risk of Child Morbidity: An Analysis on South and Southeast Asian Countries

Labhita Das, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

INTRODUCTION: Around 3 billion people still cook using biomass fuels, these cooking practices are hazardous and produce a wide range of health-damaging pollutants. DATA SOURCE: DHS data from Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Philippines. METHODS: Differences in categorical variables were tested using Pearson’s ?2 (chi-square) Statistics, Since both treatment and outcome variable in our case are binomial, a simultaneous Equation was used, i.e., probit regression model. RESULTS: Among solid-fuel using households highest probability of occurrence of fever was seen in Afghanistan (0.067) and India occupied the extreme bottom with a probability of 0.026. 1.49 % of children from solid fuel using household in Nepal suffered Diarrhea. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the probit model indicates that there is a increased likelihood of occurrence of fever, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and cough among under 5 children belonging to the households using solid fuel in the selected South and Southeast Asian countries.

Keywords: Children and youth, Environmental studies, Cross-country comparative analyses, Health and morbidity

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P1.