Investigating Cooking Activity Patterns and Perceptions of Air Quality Interventions among Women in Urban Rwanda

Household air pollution (HAP) from biomass cooking with traditional stoves is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) worldwide. Air quality interventions such as improved cookstoves (ICS) may mitigate HAP-related impacts; however, poor understanding of co...

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Veröffentlicht in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-06, Vol.18 (11), p.5984
Hauptverfasser: Campbell, Catherine A., Bartington, Suzanne E., Woolley, Katherine E., Pope, Francis D., Thomas, Graham Neil, Singh, Ajit, Avis, William R., Tumwizere, Patrick R., Uwanyirigira, Clement, Abimana, Pacifique, Kabera, Telesphore
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Household air pollution (HAP) from biomass cooking with traditional stoves is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) worldwide. Air quality interventions such as improved cookstoves (ICS) may mitigate HAP-related impacts; however, poor understanding of contextual socio-cultural factors such as local cooking practices have limited their widespread adoption. Policymakers and stakeholders require an understanding of local cooking practices to inform effective HAP interventions which meet end-user needs. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 36 women residing in biomass-cooking fuel households in Kigali, Rwanda to identify cooking activity patterns, awareness of HAP-related health risks and ICS intervention preferences. Overall, 94% of respondents exclusively used charcoal cooking fuel and 53% cooked one meal each day (range = 1–3 meals). Women were significantly more likely to cook outdoors compared to indoors (64% vs. 36%; p < 0.05). Over half of respondents (53%) were unaware of HAP-related health risks and 64% had no prior awareness of ICS. Participants expressed preferences for stove mobility (89%) and facility for multiple pans (53%) within an ICS intervention. Our findings highlight the need for HAP interventions to be flexible to suit a range of cooking patterns and preferred features for end-users in this context.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18115984