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Approximately half of the world’s population and 80% of rural households in India are still dependent on the use of biomass fuels including crop residues, wood and cow –dung for domestic cooking purposes. Although exposure to biomass fuel is considered to have several adverse health impacts on the respiratory systems of rural communities, it has frequently been neglected area in the country. In view of this, a pilot study was conducted among 595 households using different type of energy fuel for cooking purposes in Sundarbans, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. It had investigated health effects of biomass fuel use among households who frequently cook for long period of time.The study included confounding factors like low level of education, low monthly income and the type of houses.Respiratory illnesses were evaluated from detailed survey questionnaire including TB, Lung Cancer, Asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis, Heart disease and other types of diseases. Majority of women (59.2%) of total households engaged in cooking for more than three hours on daily basis and consequently considered to be the strongest contributor to lung cancer. Fifty – seven percent of the sampled households are living in wood, shrubs made houses, which means to have the highest number of respiratory illnesses in particular of lung cancer.
In summary, the present study showed biomass fuels use being primary source of energy is significantly associated with health risks of lung cancer particularly among women. Therefore, there is a need of an immediate attention to identify effective interventions to reduce the burden of diseases.
Keywords - Indoor Air Pollution, Health Impacts, Respiratory Illnesses, SolidFuels, Biomass, Exposure, India and Asian Countries
