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Journal ArticleDOI

Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & Women Health The Situation in Urban India

01 Mar 2014-Environment and Urbanization Asia (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 5, Iss: 1, pp 131-145
TL;DR: In this article, an attempt has been made to analyze women's exposure to indoor pollution in the households of urban India, where women being the main cook in the household are likely to be exposed relatively more.
Abstract: Indoor air quality and indoor air pollutants are now recognized as a potential source of health risks to exposed populations throughout the world. Women and children are the main victims. Source of indoor air pollution (IAP) mostly lies in the quality of fuel used. Women being the main cook in the household are likely to be exposed relatively more. Nearly 60 per cent of all IAP-induced deaths fall on females (WHO, 2000). In this article, an attempt has been made to analyze women’s exposure to indoor pollution in the households of urban India. NSSO 60th round database on the ‘Morbidity and Health Care’ schedule (schedule 25.0) as well as data collected through a primary survey on 896 households of the city of Kolkata, India spreading over 30 wards, have been used for the analysis. Relatively greater exposure to IAP and health related vulnerability for women is strongly supported by both the data analyses.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The study provides some of the first quantitative effects estimates for linking rural‐urban PM2.5 exposures and birthweight in India, adding important evidence for this association from high exposure settings in LMICs, that also experience dual health burdens from ambient and household air pollution.

95 citations


Cites background from "Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..."

  • ...Finally, results from limited time-activity assessments in both rural and urban populations in India suggest that women spend a majority of time indoors with up to 10 h in the kitchen (Balakrishnan et al., 2004b; Behera and Balamugesh, 2005; Dutta and Banerjee, 2014; Jain et al., 2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Existing research on exposure to particulate matter (PM) in India is summarized, gaps are identified, and recommendations for future research are offered.

86 citations


Cites background from "Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..."

  • ...Dutta and Banerjee (2014) reported higher average exposure for women compared to men both in slum and non-slum locations in Kolkata, and the difference was found to be particularly relevant for people in the lower socioeconomic classes....

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  • ...…are generally more vulnerable to health effects associated with air pollution, and have a disproportionately higher levels of exposure to HAP, particularly in developing countries (Parikh et al. 1999; Shimada and Matsuoka 2011; Buonanno et al. 2014; Dutta and Banerjee 2014; Gordon et al. 2014)....

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  • ...…fuel sources including wood, coal, cow dung and kerosene (Balakrishnan et al., 2013a; Choi et al., 2014), and factors such as income, education, socio-economic status and age have been reported to influence fuel choice (Andresen et al., 2005; Duflo et al., 2008; Dutta and Banerjee, 2014)....

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  • ...Being the main cook in the household, women spend a disproportionate amount of time in the kitchen which results in high overall exposure although they often have limited decision-making power in terms of choice of fuel (Duflo et al. 2008; Dutta and Banerjee 2014)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The need for detailed assessment of PE to air pollutants in Indian cities, and calls for a denser network of monitoring stations for better exposure assessment, is highlighted.

85 citations


Cites background from "Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..."

  • ...This is an important observation since women bear a significant responsibility in terms of cooking in India, and often spend a significant amount of time in the kitchen, especially in poor households (Dutta and Banerjee, 2014)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the role of electricity in improving the quality of people's lives, using the capability approach, looking at the case of rural electrification in India, and suggest that the policy should promote not only access to electricity but also enhance social and political settings that may help people to transform electricity access into valued capabilities.

46 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the case of an Indian village where nearly every house has successfully introduced a TV, but only one house adopted LPG for cooking, considering that the former is more expensive than the latter and whilst both are relatively new and energy-related technologies, the authors ask how and why people decided to adopt one extensively but not the other.

37 citations

References
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Book
01 Dec 2004
TL;DR: This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific evidence on prevalence and hazards, and the resulting health effects, of a range of exposures that are known to be hazardous to human health, including childhood and maternal undernutrition, nutritional and physiological risk factors for adult health, addictive substances, sexual and reproductive health, and risks in the physical environments of households and communities.
Abstract: During the last quarter of the twentieth century, a number of works have addressed both the methodological and empirical aspects of population-wide impacts of major causes of diseases. This gradual establishment of "risk assessment" or "risk quantification" has been driven partly by the academic curiosity of individual researchers and partly by the demands of regulatory agencies and public policy for better quantitative evidence on the health implications of certain risk exposures. These efforts nonetheless have generally been within the disciplinary and methodological traditions of individual risk factors and in a limited number of settings. As a result, the criteria for evaluating scientific evidence have varied greatly across risk factors resulting in lack of comparability across risk factors. This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific evidence on prevalence and hazards, and the resulting health effects, of a range of exposures that are known to be hazardous to human health, including childhood and maternal undernutrition, nutritional and physiological risk factors for adult health, addictive substances, sexual and reproductive health, and risks in the physical environments of households and communities, as well as among workers. This book is the culmination of over 3 years of scientific enquiry and data collection, collectively known as the comparative risk assessment (CRA) project, involving over 100 scientists, applying a common analytical framework and methods to ensure greater consistency and comparability in using and evaluating scientific evidence across risks. As a result, our understanding of the comparative extent of disease burden caused by various exposures worldwide has advanced, and key areas of scientific enquiry to better inform policy needs to reduce risks have been elucidated. As public health researchers and practitioners evaluate policy alternatives for improving population health, this book not only demonstrates the enormous potential for disease prevention, but also provides a fundamental reference for the scientific evidence on some of the most important global risks to health.

2,451 citations

Journal Article

1,697 citations


"Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…of IAP include Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), lung cancer, asthma, etc. Literatures suggest that relative risk for COPD and lung cancer (from exposure to coal smoke) is a strong health outcome for women over 30 years of age (Smith et al., 2004)....

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01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline the history of air pollution in the UK, describe the types of pollutant now in the atmosphere, and discuss the relation between air pollution and health.
Abstract: This paper outlines the history of air pollution in the UK, describes the types of pollutant now in the atmosphere, and discusses the relation between air pollution and health. The primary pollutants, which are directly discharged into the atmosphere, often from vehicle exhaust emissions, are: (1) sulphur dioxide (SO2); (2) nitrogen oxides (NOx); (3) smoke and particulates; (4) carbon monoxide (CO); (5) carbon dioxide (CO2); (6) organic compounds; and (7) metals, especially lead and calcium. The secondary pollutants, derived from primary pollutants, by chemical changes, include: (1) ground ozone, an important constituent of photochemical smog; and (2) acid aerosols. It is now proved beyond reasonable doubt that sufficiently high concentrations of atmospheric pollution have severe health effects. Various biological and medical methodologies can be used to evaluate their effects on health. Asthma and rhinitis are two important respiratory diseases, whose causes include air pollution. For the covering abstract see IRRD 869702.

1,351 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for quantifying the benefits of reduced ambient concentrations of pollutants typically found in urban areas worldwide is described. But the authors focus on the benefits that may result from reducing exposure to both outdoor and indoor air pollutants.
Abstract: To develop efficient strategies for pollution control, it is essential to assess both the costs of control and the benefits that may result. These benefits will often included improvements in public health, including reductions in both morbidity and premature mortality. Until recently, there has been little guidance about how to calculate the benefits of air pollution controls and how to use those estimates to assign priorities to different air pollution control strategies. The author describes a method for quantifying the benefits of reduced ambient concentrations of pollutants (such as ozone and particulate matter) typically found in urban areas worldwide. The author then applies the method to data on Jakarta, Indonesia, an area characterized by little wind, high population concentration (8 million people), congested roads, and ambient air pollution. The magnitude of the benefits of pollution control depend on the level of air pollution, the expected effects on health of the pollutants (dose-response), the size of the population affected and the economic value of these effects. The results for Jakarta suggest that significant benefits result from reducing exposure to both outdoor and indoor air pollutants. For example, if annual concentrations of particulate matter were reduced to the midpoint of the World Health Organization guideline (and former U.S. ambient standard), the estimates indicate a reduction per year of 1,400 premature deaths (with a range of 900 to 1,900), 49,000 emergency room visits, 600,000 asthma attacks, 7.6 million restricted activity days (including work loss), 124,000 cases of bronchitis in children, and 37 million minor respiratory symptoms. In the case of Jakarta, the methodology suggests that reducing exposure to lead and nitrogen dioxide should also be a high priority. An important consequence of ambient lead pollution is a reduction in learning abilities for children, measured as I.Q loss. Apart from that, reducing the proportion of respirable particles can reduce the amount of illness and premature mortality. Clearly, air pollution represents a significant public health hazard to residents of Jakarta and other cities consistently exposed to high levels of air pollution, such as Bangkok, Mexico City, and Santiago, Chile.

146 citations


"Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...Environment and Urbanization ASiA, 5, 1 (2014): 131–145 We need two sets of weights to construct EXI, the vulnerability weight wi,(as), which has been derived from Kathuria and Khan (2007) and cij, which has been generated from the estimates extended by Saksena and Dayal (1997) and Ostro (1994)....

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Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the extent to which the division of household responsibilities, household structure, and dimensions and location of kitchen facilities causally affect the health of women and children, taking into account optimizing behavior within households.
Abstract: In many rural areas of low-income countries, biomass fuel is the principal source of household energy, meaning that indoor air pollution (IAP) is a serious health problem. If exposure to IAP is greatest in areas where combustion occurs, primarily the kitchen, IAP will mostly affect the women who cook and the children whom they supervise. Using a 2000-2003 survey of 1638 rural households in Bangladesh, where biomass fuel provides more than 90 percent of household energy, we investigate (i) the extent to which the division of household responsibilities, household structure, and dimensions and location of kitchen facilities causally affect the health of women and children, taking into account optimizing behavior within households, and (ii) whether households act as if they are optimally sharing the burden of a disease. The results suggest that proximity to stoves adversely affects the respiratory health of women and the young children they supervise and that households appear to be aware of and attempt to mitigate the health effects of cooking with biomass fuels in their time allocation decisions, including effects on young children, such that women with lower endowed health have greater exposure to smoke and women with very young children have less exposure to pollutants. We also find, however, that due to measurement error, conventional estimates of the impact of smoke inhalation are underestimated substantially. Finally, our results suggest that improving ventilation by increasing the permeability of roofs or walls has no significant effect on health, consistent with prior studies examining point-source pollutants and health data.

53 citations


"Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution & ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Incidence among women is greater not only due to higher exposure but also due to lower awareness (Pitt et al., 2006)....

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