Exposure to Biomass Fuel Smoke and Risk of Child Morbidity: An Analysis on South and South-East Asian Countries

Around 03 billion people still cook using biomass fuels, these cooking practices are hazardous and produce a wide range of health-damaging pollutants causing high level household air pollution. Most of these people using solid fuels belong to lower wealth quintile household and resides in low and middle-income countries. The women and young children who spend most of their time near the domestic hearth are comparatively more exposed to toxic amount of household air pollutants every day. The current study compares the scenario of child respiratory health; assessing the occurrence of ARI and cough among children aged under five in South and Southeast Asian countries. The current study is comprised of analysis of Demographic Health Survey data for Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Philippines. A comparative study was conducted between the selected countries. The differences in categorical variables were tested using Pearson’s χ2 Statistics, since both treatment and outcome variable in the study are binomial, a simultaneous equation was used (probit regression model). The results indicated that there is an increased likelihood of occurrence of ARI and cough among children aged under five belonging to the households using solid fuel in the selected South and Southeast Asian countries