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Received Sep 30, 2017; Revised Jan 1, 2018; Accepted Feb 7, 2018
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1. Background
The entire world used solid fuels (biomass and coal) for cooking more than a century; now more than 60% use gas and/or electricity-fuels that are basically clean at use [1]. Households burn such solid fuels in inefficient devices and in poorly ventilated kitchens. These result in very high exposures to multiple toxic products of incomplete combustion [2–4]. People in developing countries are commonly exposed to very high levels of pollution for 3–7 hours daily over many years [5]. Most of daily exposures to household air pollution (HAP) are because of the greater amount of time spent in household and the higher pollution levels of households [6]. HAP varies depending on the type of fuel, stove, housing characteristics, fuel moisture content, the practice of the people using the stoves, and the stove technology [7]. Unclean fuels are often burned in inefficient, poorly vented combustion devices. The incomplete combustion of these solid fuels results in much of the fuel energy being emitted as potentially toxic pollutants [8]. Biomass fuel combustion results in severe household air pollution and has been associated with increased risk for acute lower respiratory tract infections [9]. The incidence of ARI was higher in children who live in houses where biomass fuel was used and who accompanied their mothers while cooking compared with children living in houses [10]. The odds of having suffered from ARI were large with woodstoves homes relative to charcoal stoves [11]. An exposure to indoor air pollution was risk factor for severe lower acute respiratory infections in children [12].
A study in Ghana indicated that 99% of the households used biomass as their primary fuel, 55% cooked outdoors, and 77% cooked on traditional fires [13]. According to 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) report, 93% (70.6% of urban and 98.8% of rural) of households use solid fuel as a primarily source of energy for cooking [14]. A study in Gondar and Addis Ababa revealed that 54.7% and 60% of the children lived in households using...