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Household fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations from cooking fuels: the case in an urban setting, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia

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Abstract

Household air pollution from biomass fuel is a main cause of health problem in Ethiopia, since 93% of households use solid fuel for cooking. Household air pollution studies are limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, we attempted to determine the level of household fine particulate matter concentrations from cooking fuels in Wolaita Sodo town, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design was used to measure particulate matter (PM2.5) in 109 kitchens in randomly selected households. The University of California Berkeley particle monitor data logger devices were used for measuring the level of PM2.5 for the duration of 24 h based on the installation protocol. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the variation across fuel sources. Out of 109 households, 83 (76.15%) and 26 (23.85%) used predominately biomass fuel and mixed types fuel sources for cooking respectively. The overall geometric mean of PM2.5 was 413.27 μg/m3. The magnitude of PM2.5 from biomass fuel source was a mean (SD) of 926.34 μg/m3(899.00), followed by mixed type of fuel users, 279.42 μg/m3 (216.71). The median concentration of PM2.5 in all monitored households was 412.55 μg/m3. One-way ANOVA between fuel types was found to be statistically significant resulted in different mean concentration of particulate matter for both types of fuels used in households [P < 0.001]. PM2.5 was higher than the World Health Organization air quality guideline value. Therefore, supplying improved cook stoves and clean fuel sources is decisive intervention.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Wolaita Sodo University and Addis Ababa University for financial support. We would like to thank also Wolaita Sodo town administration and study participants for giving us their time and allowing us to undertake data collection. Special thanks goes to Gaia Association, Ethiopia for providing HAP monitoring devices. We are also grateful to data collectors and supervisor for maintaining data quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia

    Amha Admasie

  2. School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Abera Kumie & Alemayehu Worku

  3. Gaia Association Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Wubshet Tsehayu

Authors
  1. Amha Admasie
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  2. Abera Kumie
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  3. Alemayehu Worku
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  4. Wubshet Tsehayu
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Contributions

AA carried out protocol development, data collection, data management and analyses, and writing the manuscript. AK and AW were involved in protocol development, providing field work monitoring, and editing the manuscript. WT was involved on technical support of monitoring devices and editing manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amha Admasie.

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Ethical approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance to undertake the study was obtained from Addis Ababa University, College of Health Sciences-Institutional Review Board Office. Informed consent to participate in the study was obtained. For this, subject information sheet and informed consent letter were attached to each questionnaire. Participants were informed that participating is voluntarily and has no risk or harm. The right of the respondent to withdraw from the interview or not to participate was respected. For those houses with poorly ventilated houses and biomass-dependent households were informed about the health risks of poor house ventilation and biomass fuel use.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Admasie, A., Kumie, A., Worku, A. et al. Household fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations from cooking fuels: the case in an urban setting, Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia. Air Qual Atmos Health 12, 755–763 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00700-0

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