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Indoor Air Quality for Poor Families: New Evidence from Bangladesh. Susmita Dasgupta* Mainul Huq M. Khaliquzzaman Kiran Pandey David Wheeler. How serious is indoor air pollution in Bangladesh?.
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Indoor Air Quality for Poor Families:New Evidence from Bangladesh Susmita Dasgupta* Mainul Huq M. Khaliquzzaman Kiran Pandey David Wheeler
How serious is indoor air pollution in Bangladesh? Galassi, Ostro, et al. (2000), on health impacts in 8 Italian cities whose annual PM10 concentrations vary from 45 to 55 ug/m3, find that reducing these concentrations would yield large health benefits. Among 236 Bangladeshi households, where PM10 in indoor air was monitored in our study, by contrast, daily average indoor concentrations of 300 ug/m3 are not unusual.
Additional Questions of Interest • Is exposure largely confined to cooking areas? • How much difference does fuel choice make for indoor air pollution? • How important is fuel choice for indoor air pollution when other household characteristics are accounted for? • How serious is the indoor air quality problem for poor families in Bangladesh? • Are there significant geographic variations in indoor air quality?
Data • Indoor air quality (PM10) was monitored for a stratified sample of 236 households in Dhaka and Narayanganj. • PM2.5 was monitored for a subsample of 85 households. • Monitoring IAP Concentrations: • Thermo Electric Personal DataRAM (pDR-1000): real-time monitoring • Airmetrics MiniVol Portable Air Sampler: average particulate concentration of ambient air for 24 hours
Comparative PM10 concentrations in 4 houses: kitchens and living rooms
Household PM10 concentrations: kitchens vs. living rooms Correlation coefficient = 0.93
Sources of Variation in Household PM10 Concentrations • Choice of fuel • Cooking locations (e.g. attached/detached/open kitchen) • Household characteristics (e.g. ventilation characteristics of households: Structural characteristics and ventilation behavior)
Sample Composition (Kitchens): Thermo Electric Personal DataRAM
Cooking Locations in Bangladeshi Households Stove denoted by
Determinants of PM10 Concentrations Liv.&Kit. Kitchen Kitchen Living Living Room Dummy -40.057 (3.52)** Mud Walls 252.921 261.472 253.896 229.729 (9.84)** (6.67)** (6.53)** (6.39)** Mud Walls, -158.160 -121.130 -124.058 -163.725 Detached Kitchen (3.99)** (1.72) (1.76) (3.83)** Thatch Roof -100.357 -70.898 (Living Room) (5.17)** (6.01)** Kitchen Windows, Doors -32.016 -39.906 Open After Midday Meal (2.25)* (1.79) Detached Kitchen -46.711 -40.672 -37.599 -57.381 (4.25)** (2.48)* (2.44)* (4.86)** Open-Air Kitchen -64.134 -88.337 -79.887 -80.504 (4.31)** (4.11)** (3.77)** (5.90)** Jute -41.136 -40.645 -45.233 -41.225 (3.45)** (1.97) (2.20)* (3.27)** Kerosene -89.758 -103.172 -106.729 -76.197 (8.15)** (6.59)** (7.46)** (6.68)** Lpg/Lng -102.597 -113.334 -112.523 -89.441 (4.16)** (3.16)** (3.40)** (3.04)** Piped Natural Gas -136.411 -144.226 -155.285 -135.870 (12.09)** (9.27)** (10.22)** (10.07)** Constant 289.830 287.410 258.563 235.342 (16.43)** (11.47)** (17.47)** (19.94)** Observations 424 207 234 246 R-squared 0.46 0.41 0.40 0.54
IMK Kitchen (K) Cooking location Inside (I) Building material Mud (M) Space Outside (O) Other (O) Living room (L)
Household Survey Regions Rangpur Rajshahi Jessore Sylhet Dhaka Faridpur Cox’s Bazar
Regional Indoor Air Pollution Estimates • Extrapolating from our results, we have estimated indoor air pollution levels for a random sample of 600 rural, peri-urban and urban households in six regions: • Rangpur Northwest • Sylhet Northeast • Rajshahi West Central • Faridpur Central • Jessore Southwest • Cox’s Bazar Southeast
Are there significant geographic variations in indoor air quality? Our results indicate great geographic variation, even for households in the same per capita income group. This variation reflects local differences in fuel use and, more significantly, construction practices that affect ventilation. • For the poorest households, rural PM10 concentrations vary from 410 ug/m3 in Cox’s Bazar to 202 ug/m3 in Faridpur. • Even in urban areas, concentrations differ by almost 100 ug/m3 between the highest areas, Jessore and Rajshahi and the lowest, Sylhet. • The poorest households in Rangpur face about the same mean indoor concentration (198 ug/m3) as the highest-income households in Cox’s Bazar (195 ug/m3).
How serious is the indoor air quality problem for poor families in Bangladesh? • Our results for six Bangladeshi regions suggest that indoor PM10 concentrations are quite high for many poor families. For all rural families with per capita incomes below $1.00/day, we estimate a mean PM10 concentration of 275 ug/m3 for kitchen spaces. This falls somewhat in peri-urban and urban areas (to 226 and 193 ug/m3, respectively), but remains high.
Summary and Conclusions • High indoor PM10 concentrations for many poor families. • Significant geographic variation in indoor air quality. • Although fuel choice affects indoor air pollution, its role appears secondary to the role of ventilation factors for households. • Pollution from cooking diffuses into living spaces rapidly and completely.