Reduction in household air pollution and associated health risk: a pilot study with an improved cookstove in rural households

Almost half of the world’s population still practice biomass fuel burning for various domestic purposes. About 1.6 million deaths are attributed to acute exposure to indoor air pollutants in India. A very few attempts have been made in the eastern part of India for remediation from household air pollution through the intervention of improved cookstoves. In this study, an attempt has been made to curb the pollution level by substituting traditional biomass cookstoves with an improved cookstove. The concentrations of pollutants (CO, CO₂, O₃, NO₂, SO₂, PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and TSPM) were measured, and health parameters were assessed before and after installation of the improved cookstove. Results revealed that the pollution was reduced and health parameters were improved significantly (p < 0.001) after installation of an improved cookstove. Toxicological risk analysis and percentage of blood carboxyhemoglobin results confirmed that higher health risk was associated with the use of the traditional cookstove. However, the health risk of women was gradually decreased after using an improved cookstove. The Monte Carlo probabilistic simulation model was run to assess the uncertainty factors on the health risk, and it was observed that exposure time and duration of exposure were two important factors that contributed most to the health risk assessment. Therefore, it may be concluded that the present improved cookstoves could be an alternative for the rural people besides clean energy.