Assesment Of Carbon Monoxide From Biomass Burning In Rural Households In Adamawa State, Northeastern Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Indoor air pollution (IAP) kills 4 million people worldwide, particularly in developing countries where many people rely heavily on biomass for energy. Globally, 3 billion people use biomass fuel for cooking and heating. Burning biomass emits carbon monoxide (CO) and other pollutants. Hence, IAP is the leading cause of non-communicable diseases in the world. Women and children suffer most of the burden of IAP because they are usually responsible for cooking. In a rural, poor community in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, I assessed risks to human health from biomass burning. I used structured questionnaires to interview heads-of-households about their household composition, cooking habits, cooking fuel, and kitchen area. Using a CO data logger, I also measured CO emissions during cooking for 16 households with indoor kitchens. The number of doors, windows, and gaps were counted and measured to assess ventilation and subjectively categorized into a ventilation index. My results showed that adult women (n =134) were mainly responsible for cooking in the Bole community, and mean number of times residents cooked per day was 2.25 ± 0.55. The primary fuel source for all but four households was wood. Most households had outdoor cooking areas (n = 101). Mean CO reading (111.9 ± 41.4 ppm) exceeded World Health Organization recommended safe levels. Ventilation appeared to be important for reducing CO concentrations during cooking. This research reinforces that indoor pollution from biomass burning poses a risk to the human health and contributes to deforestation.