Household Air Pollution Intervention Implications: Findings from Qualitative Studies and a Field Trial of Clean Cookstoves in Two Rural Villages in India
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Location
2.2. Participants
2.3. Study Design
2.4. Field Test of Improved Stoves
2.5. Data Analysis
2.6. Ethics
3. Results
3.1. Participant Characterises
3.2. Current Stove and Fuel Practices
“In the morning time I use LPG and in the evening time mud stove. Because morning time has very much busy schedule and my husband has to go for work, for that I need to cook fast.”A woman
3.3. Usual Cooking and Stove Practices
“In the morning I prepare tea, boil water for all five members, then meal like dal, chapatti, rice and vegetables. This cooking finishes at 11 [a.m.]. Then the chula [stove] again lits in the evening at 5 for preparing tea, dal, chapatti, rice and vegetables. Sometimes for tea, I lit chula in the afternoon. We have only one chula that we use for all purposes.”A woman
“When a large number of relatives comes to house we build separate large cook stove of bricks outside of the house for cooking. Also when we prepare papad, dhapode [in large quantities] similarly we build large cookstove of bricks outside.”A woman
“There is variation throughout week and year. I use mostly the clay cook stove throughout the year, but in four months of summer, I prefer the LPG stove. In remaining eight months we use the clay stove mostly.”A woman
3.4. Fuel Collection, Cost and Storage
“Some common names [of trees] we know like babul, neem, parathi and other crop residue, there are many more but we don’t know the names. Wherever we found nearby jungles and farm we collect it and bring it [to burn in the stove].”A mother-in-law
3.5. Perceptions and Satisfaction of Traditional Stove Use
“No option…Yes, the advantage of this chulha [stove] is that as we are poor so is good for us. Fuel is free and easily available here; also we can’t buy LPG stove or LPG cylinder.”A woman
“The smoke produced by it [traditional stove] causes irritation of my eyes. My eyes become red due to smoke, heat generated by it troubles me. While cooking many time the flames cause burn to the body, blackness of pots; … [traditional stove] more firewood is required.”A woman
“We are not happy with the use of the current cookstove. In rainy season more smoke is generated and in summer due to heat temperature rises so we have trouble in both seasons. … My wife’s eyes burn from the smoke generated [by the clay stove]. It blackens the pots, burns hands and burns cloths. Mainly we don’t have option so we are using the current clay stoves.”A husband
“Look, our financial condition is not good, so we don’t have much options. Right from the beginning I am using the clay cook stove; in my maternal home also we had that clay stove. We don’t have options, so we use that. Also, we have abundant firewood, cow dung, [and] agricultural waste which can easily be used as fuel, so we are using them. Even though we have LPG, we still are using the clay stove. [Because of all these factors] we are much comfortable with our clay stove.”A woman
“I didn’t find any disadvantages of my clay stove throughout my life. The women from my era were habitual to use that type of chulha. These new generation girls have the problem with clay stoves.”A mother-in-law
3.6. Awareness of Household Air Pollution
“Chest pain, dizziness, cough, eyes gets sore and pain. These are very common problems and it happens in day-to-day life but we don’t know much about its related health problems. We never realized that problems in our lifetime [related to HAP exposure]. Yes there may be some effect of that on health of them, [such as] burning of eyes, coughing, etc.”A husband
“Whenever I prepare food for a large number of people my eyes get sore and irritated think it may be. Yes eyes get sore, watery, inflammation of eyes, sometimes feels dizziness, cough, etc.”A mother-in-law
“It may be because whenever mother breathes, it directly affects the baby in the womb. We can’t say exactly what happens but possibilities are there. No, we don’t know much about that. We never realized that in our lifetime. … Yes, there may be some effect of that on health of them. Burning of eyes, coughing, etc.”—An ASHA
3.7. Influential Persons
“I am here in this village since one year, so I don’t have much knowledge about the people in village. My decision depends upon my family member, no one else.”A woman
3.8. Observation of the Kitchen Environment and Location
3.9. Field Test of Stoves
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Methods | Participants | Purpose |
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Semi-structured in-depth interview | Women who self-identified as the household primary cook | Experience of cooking with traditional stoves |
Perceptions of household air pollution (HAP) | ||
Experience of improved cookstoves cooking | ||
Mothers-in-law or mothers of the women participants | Experience of cooking with the traditional stoves | |
Perceptions of HAP, and perceptions and Experience of cleaner stoves | ||
Perspective of an influential family member | ||
Focus Group Discussion | Husbands of women participants | Perceptions of HAP, and perceptions and Experience of cleaner stoves by husbands |
Key informant interview | Service providers (generically referred to as community health workers) Auxiliary Nurse Midwife attached to the local Primary Health Centre, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), and ‘Anganwadi Worker’ | This method generated data on existing cooking practices from local health worker’s perspectives. Information on logistical aspects of possible cleaner cookstove intervention in rural Indian context, and challenges and facilitators of implementing similar interventions in the similar settings |
Structured observation | Households of the women participants | At the end of the interview with the woman, the researcher sought for permission to observe the kitchen of the household. The researcher then noted the kitchen characteristics based on a structured checklist (stove type, placement, fuel, ventilation etc.) |
Field test of improved cookstoves | Primary cooks and their households trialled the improved cookstove | Experience of cooking with improved cookstove (ICS) to provide information on their experience and identify any likes and dislikes, and preferences |
Issues | Current Practice | Constraints/Barriers | Favourable Factors | Opportunities for Intervention |
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Knowledge of HAP risks |
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Experience of HAP exposure symptoms |
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Fuel, collection storage |
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Kitchen environment and location |
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Costs |
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Stove Model | Convenience | Difficulties | Modifications |
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Envirofit B-1200 wood (black) |
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Envirofit G-3300 Wood (red) |
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Onil Plancha stove |
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Purti pellet |
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Greenway Grameen |
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© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Alam, A.; Tawale, N.; Patel, A.; Dibley, M.J.; Jadhao, S.; Raynes-Greenow, C. Household Air Pollution Intervention Implications: Findings from Qualitative Studies and a Field Trial of Clean Cookstoves in Two Rural Villages in India. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090893
Alam A, Tawale N, Patel A, Dibley MJ, Jadhao S, Raynes-Greenow C. Household Air Pollution Intervention Implications: Findings from Qualitative Studies and a Field Trial of Clean Cookstoves in Two Rural Villages in India. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13(9):893. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090893
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlam, Ashraful, Nanda Tawale, Archana Patel, Michael J. Dibley, Sunil Jadhao, and Camille Raynes-Greenow. 2016. "Household Air Pollution Intervention Implications: Findings from Qualitative Studies and a Field Trial of Clean Cookstoves in Two Rural Villages in India" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 9: 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090893
APA StyleAlam, A., Tawale, N., Patel, A., Dibley, M. J., Jadhao, S., & Raynes-Greenow, C. (2016). Household Air Pollution Intervention Implications: Findings from Qualitative Studies and a Field Trial of Clean Cookstoves in Two Rural Villages in India. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(9), 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090893