Cooking fuel frequency use in urban Uganda: addressing household air pollution

This study examines the frequency use of cooking fuels by residents of four urban areas in Uganda (Kampala, Lira, Soroti, and M’bale). The specific objective is to identify urban dweller characteristics influencing the frequency of use of fuelwood, charcoal, kerosene, gas, or electricity in daily cooking. An ordered probit regression uses the survey data to estimate five relationships of cooking fuel use frequency generating measures of probability use in response to socio-demographic, income, and location characteristics. Charcoal and firewood remain the key cooking fuels and their use exposes families to excessive levels of toxic emissions. The probability of frequent firewood use increases among elderly, those with children or lower incomes, and residing outside Kampala. Frequency of cooking with charcoal decreases with higher age, having children, or residing in Kampala, but increases if married, with high income, or if college educated. The frequent use of liquid gas or electricity increases with income and among the college educated, but there is no detectable effect of residing in Kampala, likely due to hindered progress of expanding supply infrastructure. Targeting meal preparers with public education campaigns offers a path of changing cooking fuels use to those less polluting.