Pavlinac, PB; Fleming, JA; Dieye, Y; Ndiaye, A; Diallo, A; Ortiz, JR, JR
Rationale: According to World Health Organization estimates, exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) from the combustion of biomass (dung, wood, grasses, or charcoal) contributes to 1.5 to 2 million deaths annually. Improved cooking stoves have been shown effective in reducing exposure to indoor air pollution in developing settings.
Methods: We conducted a pilot study to ascertain fuel consumption, cooking stove use, IAP exposure, and perceived health effects due to IAP in Niakhar, Senegal in September, 2009. Head cooks from 15 households were interviewed by a Sereer speaker.
Results: Cooks reported spending an average of 5 hours and 20 minutes/day (range 3–6 hours) cooking, and spent 83% of this time within 1 meter of the stove. In the 15 Households, 14 children ≤ 5 years and 16 children 6–10 years spent an average of 26 and 22 minutes/day within 1 meter of the active stove, respectively. While 100% of Households (15/15) reported currently using wood (twigs and branches) as the major fuel source for both cooking food and boiling water, 93% of women (14/15) would prefer to use butane gas. Only 13% of Households (2/15) reported buying fuel the majority of the time, whereas 73% (11/15) collected fuel; 13% (2/15) both bought and collected fuel. For Households purchasing fuel, average costs were 5583 CFA (West African CFA francs) /month (USD 11.39) (range 3500–9000 CFA). Household that collected fuel spent an average of 37.7 hours/month (range 12–112 hours) on this activity. Observations in respondent homes revealed 27% of Households (4/15) used 3 stone fires, 53% (8/15) used metal tripods over an open fire, and 20% (3/15) used recycled metal canister stoves to prepare meals. 93% of cooks (14/15) reported difficulty breathing after they cook. Nearly half of respondents (7/15, 47%) reported always bringing up phlegm and coughing every day in the last 3 months; an additional 20% (3/15) reported bringing up phlegm sometimes or occasionally. A total of 87% of cooks (13/15) reported attacks of wheezing or whistling breath, and 80% (12/15) reported a history of waking in the morning with a feeling of tightness in their chest.
Conclusion: Survey participants and their children are exposed to high levels of smoke during food preparation, and this smoke is perceived to have an adverse effect on health. This pilot survey will inform future, larger-scale IAP exposure measurement studies in rural Senegal.
