Abstract View
Kitchen Area and Personal Exposure Measurements of Carbon Monoxide and Particulate Matter in Rural and Urban Malawi
STEPHANIE PARSONS, Joseph Pedit, Andrew Grieshop, Pamela Jagger, North Carolina State University
Abstract Number: 135
Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract
Almost 4 million deaths annually are attributable to household air pollution (HAP) from using traditional biomass (wood, dung, crop residues) fuels, which are prominent in sub–Saharan Africa (SSA). However, HAP observations collected in SSA are sparse, particularly those comparing urban and rural exposures. The Malawi Forest and Livelihoods Household Survey, conducted in 2002, 2006, and 2009, focused on use of forest resources. Here, we present data from follow-up studies conducted in 2013 and 2014 that measured fuel use and exposures for different cooking technologies. We collected kitchen and personal exposure measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM2.5) in 2013 in 100 households in two rural districts. In 2014, data was collected in 148 households in urban Lilongwe. CO and PM2.5 monitors in cooking areas provided kitchen concentrations while monitors were simultaneously worn for 24-hour exposure measurements. Personal exposure was driven by contrasts in fuel use: 99% of rural cooks primarily used biomass and had 2.5 times higher 24-hour average PM2.5 exposure (433 +/- 484μg m-3) than urban cooks (172 +/- 164μg m-3), while 82% of urban cooks used charcoal primarily and had CO exposures (7.1 +/- 7.0ppm) almost three times greater than rural cooks (2.7 +/- 2.0ppm). Cooks with separate kitchens had double the PM2.5 exposure of those cooking in their primary dwelling or outdoors. Cooks using half-walled kitchens had CO and PM2.5 exposures 50% and 42% higher than cooks using enclosed kitchens. We observe poor correlations between kitchen and personal CO and PM2.5 averages in both settings. CO diurnal trends were similar between settings, peaking at mealtimes; however, urban cook nighttime peaks doubled those of rural cooks. This study contributes to the sparse data on HAP exposures in SSA and demonstrates the influence of fuel and household characteristics on exposure.