Household Air Pollution Related to Housing Characteristics and Cooking Conditions in Jimma Town, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Globally, a substantial burden of disease is attributable to environmental risk factors including indoor air pollution. Nearly half of the world's population relies on solid fuel. Almost all (98.8%) residents in Ethiopia are dependent on biomass fuel as their basic source of energy for cooking. Thus, we set out to quantify the concentration of indoor air pollutants and household exposures in different housing characteristics and cooking conditions METHODS: A survey was conducted in 280 randomly selected households in Jimma town, Ethiopia. A real-time concentration of fine particulate matters (PM2.5, PM10) and pollutants including carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and volatile organic compounds (VOC) were measured using Laser PM(2.5 )Meter-5800D/5800E and Aeroqual's TM series 500 portable air quality monitors. Data on housing characteristics, kitchen configuration, and ventilation status were collected using observation checklist. RESULTS: The median concentrations of pollutants in all measured households were PM2.5; 294 mu g/m3, PM10; 270 mu g/m3, CO2; 577 mg/m3, CO; 7.9 mg/m3, and VOC; 1077 mg/m3. Households that used solid fuels had significantly higher concentration of PM2.5 (U = 53.0, p < 0.001), PM10 (U =63.0, p < 0.001),CO2 (U = 3519.50, p < 0.001), and CO (U = 3246.0, p < 0.001) than households that used clean fuel. CONCLUSIONS: All households in this study were exposed to high concentration of indoor air pollutants that exceeded WHO's air quality standard. Effective strategy should be put in place to reduce the emission of air pollutants and to set air quality management and improvements policy