Environ. Sci. Technol., February 3, 2012
Household Concentrations and Exposure of Children to Particulate Matter from Biomass Fuels in The Gambia
Kathie L. Dionisio, et al.
Particulate matter (PM) is an important metric for studying the health effects of household air pollution. There are limited data on PM exposure for children in homes that use biomass fuels, and no previous study has used direct measurement of personal exposure in children younger than 5 years of age. We estimated PM2.5 exposure for 1266 children in The Gambia by applying the cookhouse PM2.5–CO relationship to the child’s CO exposure. Using this indirect method, mean PM2.5 exposure for all subjects was 135 ± 38 μg/m3; 25% of children had exposures of 151 μg/m3 or higher.
Indirectly estimated exposure was highest among children who lived in homes that used firewood (collected or purchased) as their main fuel (144 μg/m3) compared to those who used charcoal (85 μg/m3). To validate the indirect method, we also directly measured PM2.5 exposure on 31 children. Mean exposure for this validation data set was 65 ± 41 μg/m3 using actual measurement and 125 ± 54 μg/m3 using the indirect method based on simultaneously-measured CO exposure.
The correlation coefficient between direct measurements and indirect estimates was 0.01. Children in The Gambia have relatively high PM2.5 exposure. There is a need for simple methods that can directly measure PM2.5 exposure in field studies.
USAID supports new Haiti project for clean cooking solutions
Source: February 21, 2012 | USAID
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is aiming to establish a sustainable local market and industry for clean cooking solutions in Haiti, a country whose high demand for charcoal has contributed to widespread deforestation.
USAID recently announced an award to Chemonics International to implement the three-year Improved Cooking Technology Project. Through close coordination with the Government of Haiti, the Haitian private sector and Haitian civil society, the project will establish a thriving local market – on both the supply and demand sides – as well as a sustainable industry for clean cooking solutions, including Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and more efficient biomass cookstoves.
The use of firewood and charcoal in Haiti by individuals and small businesses has increased pressure on local natural resources and the environment. This reliance on charcoal is a major reason why forests now cover less than 2 percent of the country.
“The goal of the Improved Cooking Technology Project is to decrease Haiti’s consumption of charcoal by establishing a sustainable market for clean, efficient and affordable cooking solutions,” said USAID/Haiti Mission Director Carleene H. Dei. “Without the protection of natural, wooded watersheds, Haiti’s denuded hillsides leave the country vulnerable to erosion and devastating flooding.”
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Long Term Sequelae from Childhood Pneumonia; Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 7(2): 2012, e31239. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031239
Edmond K, Scott S, Korczak V, Ward C, Sanderson C, et al.
Children who have poor respiratory function at birth are at risk of developing both pneumonia and later long term respiratory problems. A signficant limitation of our meta-analysis and other studies to date is the lack of information on baseline respiratory status prior to the pneumonia episode. These baseline data were not recorded in any of our included studies. However, other studies have used birth weight as a proxy for early respiratory function and investigated effects of birth weight on pneumonia and long term respiratory outcomes.
These studies demonstrated important associations between childhood pneumonia and long term outcome even after adjusting for birth weight. Other important confounders include cigarette smoking and indoor air pollution, but we were also unable to control for these factors in our multivariable analyses. We had no information on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in our study populations, and only two studies were conducted in countries where HIV infection is highly prevalent.
Local perception of indoor air pollution with use of biofuel in rural communities of Uchalli Wetlands Complex, Salt Range Pakistan. JAPS, Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 2011 Vol. 21 No. 2 Supplement pp. 429-434
Ali, Z.; Shelly, S. Y.; Bibi, F.; Nasir, Z. A.; Colbeck, I.
http://www.thejaps.org.pk
More than 2.4 billion people around the world in the rural community depend on biomass fuel (wood, charcoal animal dung, and crop residue). Incomplete combustion of this fuel has led to increased amounts of indoor pollution and raise in global warming; this has further led to the increase in the incidence of diseases. Therefore, interventions to reduce biomass fuel related emission by alternative fuels and improved combustion efficiency can improve health, add to socioeconomic development. The area selected for sampling was the Uchalli Wetlands Complex which in the Northwest of Khushab district in Pakistan which houses three saline lakes surrounded by forest and villages.
A questionnaire was designed with questions regarding the household fuel use and techniques to improve livelihood and to create awareness and locals from the age of 19-95 were interviewed with a majority of males, houses in the area were mainly of stone blocks and majority males in the area worked in the city. Combined family system was prevalent in the area (80%) with about 42% of the population having no formal education. A wide variety of stoves were observed in the area with wives having a major decision (69%) in fuel choice which mainly depended on the cheapness and availability of the fuel.
The cooking being mostly done (79.8%) outside in summers and indoors in winters. Majority of the respondents (94.7%) were aware that liquid petroleum gas and natural gas are better ways of reducing pollution and decreasing the incidence of diseases which included using dry wood, proper ventilation and many others.
Who Adopts Improved Fuels and Cookstoves? A Systematic Review, Env Health Perspec, Feb 2012, J Lewis.
Research studies show that income, education, and urban location are positively associated with adoption in most (not all) studies. However, the influence of fuel availability and prices, household size and composition, and gender is unclear. Potentially important drivers such as credit, supply-chain strengthening, and social marketing have been ignored.
Benefits and Costs of Improved Cookstoves: Assessing the Implications of Variability in Health, Forest and Climate Impacts, PLoS ONE, Feb 2012. M Jeuland,Duke University.
Current attention to improved cook stoves (ICS) focuses on the “triple benefits” they provide, in improved health and time savings for households, in preservation of forests and associated ecosystem services, and in reducing emissions that contribute to global climate change.
Despite the purported economic benefits of such technologies, progress in achieving large-scale adoption and use has been remarkably slow.
This article documents the costs and benefits of these technologies and the reasons why uptake has been disappointing. Given the current attention to the scale up of ICS, this analysis is timely and important for highlighting some of the challenges to global ICS promotion.
Journal of Horticulture and Forestry Vol. 4(2), pp. 43-48, 1 February, 2012
Analysis of household energy sources and woodfuel utilisation technologies in Kiambu, Thika and Maragwa districts of Central Kenya
Githiomi J. K., et al.
This study was carried out in Kiambu, Thika and Maragwa districts of Central Kenya. Its objective was to analyze household energy sources and utilization technologies used. Primary data was collected from households using structured and non structured questionnaires. Trees on farm were found to be the major supply of the woodfuel energy where firewood was the main source of household energy followed by charcoal.
Traditional three stones stoves were the most commonly used with 76 59 and 65 (household respondents) in Kiambu, Thika and Maragwa districts respectively. Improved charcoal stoves were the second commonly used while only a very negligible percentage used kerosene stovesand gas burners.
Over 70% of the respondents were aware of the improved stoves but their adoption was less than 29%. The low adoption of improved stoves was due to their high cost as noted by the respondents. Over 90% of the households had the opinion that woodfuel sources were decreasing and there was a need to develop strategies for its future sustainability. The study recommended integration of woodfuel production to local farming systems and establishment of fuelwood plantations by Kenya Forest Service to substitute on farm sources. It also recommended promotion of improved stoves with higher efficiency to reduce the woodfuel used as well as improve on environmental pollution.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
Fact Sheet
U.S State Dept. Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 16, 2012
THE PROBLEM
Pollutants that are short-lived in the atmosphere such as methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) together account for approximately one-third of current global warming, have significant impacts on public health, the environment, and world food productivity.
THE POTENTIAL
Fast action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants can have a direct impact on global warming, with the potential to reduce the warming expected by 2050 by as much as 0.5 Celsius degrees. At the same time, by 2030, such action can prevent millions of premature deaths, while also avoiding the annual loss of more than 30 million tons of crops. Moreover, many of these benefits can be achieved at low cost and with significant energy savings.
THE RESPONSE
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, a new global initiative to seize the opportunity of realizing concrete benefits on climate, health, food and energy resulting from reducing short-lived climate pollutants. The coalition will focus efforts on reducing black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and methane. The founding coalition partners are Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States, together with the UN Environment Programme.
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Atmospheric Environment 49 (2012) 415e418
Dioxin inhalation doses from wood combustion in indoor cookfires
Amanda L. Northcross
Approximately 3 billion people worldwide rely on solid biomass fuels for household cooking and space heating, and approximately 50 to 60% use wood, often indoors in poorly ventilated situations. Daily exposures to high concentrations of smoke from cookstoves inside kitchens create large smoke exposures for women cooks and their small children. The smoke from burning wood fuel contains hundreds of toxic compounds, including dioxins and furans some of the most toxic compounds known to science. Health affects from exposure to dioxins include reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interference with hormones and also cause cancer. This study measure concentrations of dioxins and furans in a typical Guatemalan village home during open cookfires.
Measured concentrations averaged 0.32 ng m3 over 31 fires. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted using parameter estimates based on 8 years of research experience in the study area. The 46% of babies have an estimated total daily intake (TDI) which exceed the WHO TDI guideline for dioxins and furans, 3% of women and 26% of 5-year-old children based solely inhalation of particle phase dioxins in woodsmoke from an open cooking fire. These values may be underestimates, as they did not include gas phase concentrations or ingestion of dioxins and furans through food, which is the largest route of exposure in the developed world.
Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, Vol 22 No 3, August 2011
The impact of health behaviour change intervention on indoor air pollution indicators in the rural North West Province, South Africa
Brendon Barnes, et al.
The aim of this study was to evaluate a community counselling intervention on stationary levels of PM10 and carbon monoxide (CO) as well as CO measured on children younger than five. Using a quasi-experimental design, baseline data was collected in an intervention (n=36) and a control (n=38) community; the intervention was implemented in the intervention community only; and follow-up data was collected one year later amongst the same households.
Despite the fact that indoor air pollution was reduced in both communities, the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group when stratified by burning location. The net median reductions associated with the intervention were: PM10=57%, CO=31% and CO (child)=33% amongst households that burned indoor fires.
The study provides tentative evidence that a health behaviour change is associated with reductions in child indoor air pollution exposure. The intervention is relatively inexpensive and easy to replicate. However, more powerful epidemiological studies are needed to determine the impact on health outcomes.
