Perceived Health Risks of Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution from Cooking Fuels in Sindh, Pakistan

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-R-2 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.