Household Energy Consumption And Health Effects In Abidjan

The research will focus on establishing a theoretical approach of the energy consumed by households in Cote d'Ivoire.The purpose of this research is to understand the populations' dependence on and choice of energy.Energy consumption is very relative because it is mostly influenced by social and economic factors.That reality will allow us establishing the link between households' needs and fuels' affordability and supply.The analysis of the study shows that the impacts on health of domestic fuel use go beyond indoor air pollution and affect the household economy,women's time and activities,gender roles and relations,safety and hygiene as well as local and global environment.They use traditional fuel in traditional stoves for cooking.Cooking is largely done by women inside the rooms.Women and children are the main groups exposed to the indoor smoke produced while cooking.Illnesses as a result of this exposure take millions of lives every year.This thesis looked into the relationship between rural household energy consumption patterns,coping with strategies and health effects for domestic cooking in Abidjan.This research scrutinized the energy consumption by households and its impacts on the health.It had three goals.Firstly,a sound methodological research approach was developed and utilized.Both primary and secondary data were collected from questionnaires,structured interviews,personal observations,relevant literature,documentation from government agencies and oil/ electricity companies.These data were analyzed using SPSS software.The survey of household energy consumption pattern was carried out in ten sub-district of Abidjan city and implied 376 households within the time period from January to November 2016.The households' survey covered heterogeneous populations belonging to different income,educational and social groups.Secondly,it examines the determinants of the choice of fuel consumed by households through multivariate Logit approach.This analysis demonstrated that fuelwood,charcoal and LPG appeared as the three main fuels used for cooking,though electricity was also used along with biomass fuels.But the main fuel chosen by households in Abidjan district was charcoal and charcoal/LPG.We found a strong correlation between the type of room and wealth status.Poor households prefer to use traditional fuels for cooking.Wealth status was an important factor determining the choice of fuel for cooking,but there were some socio-cultural factors which were equally important in making fuel preferences at household level.A number of variables are shown to affect fuel choice and fuel switching: household expenditures?p<0.05?,education?p<0.01?,urbanization?p<0.05?,electrification status?p<0.05?,and household size?p<0.01?were variables that have a significant impact on the choice between modern and traditional solid fuels.Thirdly,daily average concentrations of fine particulate matter?PM?and carbon monoxide?CO?from fuelwood and charcoal in 45 households selected through stratified random sampling from the Abidjan district in Cote d'Ivoire was also quantified using Monitoring sensors.The use of biomass fuels;from it collection to combustion also has impacts on the health of the user.Result from the fuelwood,charcoal and LPG monitoring shows that the values of respirable particles(PM_2.5)ranged from 23-432.07 ?g/m³ and 0.07-27.02 ppm for CO.Household monitoring using charcoal and fuelwood gives PM_2.5?11-381.12 ?g/m3?and?0.10-58.8 ppm?.Both PM_2.5 and CO concentrations were well above both the World Health Organization 24-hour Guideline and Interim Targets.The results have shown that households using fuelwood or fuelwood/ charcoal are more exposed to diseases.The use of biomass fuels,from its collection to combustion,also has impacts on the health of the user.Results of statically descriptive data permitted to observe health effects from the production and use of charcoal and fuelwood included eye irritation,headache,backache,coughing,skin irritation,and chest pains.Multinomial regression analysis confirmed the impact of fuels used on health.This analysis estimated that the use of fuelwood affects more women and children with a higher likelihood of coughing and eye irritation.And finally,this paper suggests as well that the government should consider reviving the improved stove program with a new advanced stove strategy for example solar cooker coupled with conducting advocacy campaigns on how to improve kitchen ventilation.And it is also suggested to use of new fuel such as ‘charcoal briquettes' that emits less pollutants.