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Household air pollution is a major health hazard especially in a developing country like India. Majority of the rural population and even a section of the urban population continue to rely on unclean sources of energy for cooking. New-borns within one month of age are even more prone to the harmful effects of household air pollution. Hence, this study aims to examine the effect of household air pollution and other household environmental factors on early neonatal and neonatal mortality in India.
The dataset employed for the study is“National Family Health Survey”(NFHS) -4, 2015-2016. A cohort of last five years is taken, that is, 2011-2015. Descreptive analysis is carried out using frequency distribution and percentages. Bivariate association between the child deaths (early neonatal and neonatal deaths) and explanatory variables is examined using Chi-square tests. The causal relationship between child deaths and household air pollution and environmental factors are examined using multivariate logistic regression models. Six regression models are run that analyzed early neonatal and neonatal deaths each for All India, Rural India and Urban India.
The results reveal that cooking fuel which is a major cause of household air pollution significantly affects early neonatal and neonatal deaths in rural areas. Use of unclean cooking fuel increases the chances of early neonatal and neonatal deaths by 16% and 18% respectively. Majority of rural population still are heavily dependent on unclean fuels for cooking which is resulting in hazardous outcomes in terms of the health of the mother and child. As far as urban population is concerned, cooking fuel does not significantly effect on early neonatal and neonatal deaths but a few household environment factors like place of kitchen, open defecation are observed to have significant effect on neonatal deaths. Thus, the study contributes in diverting the attention to potential household factors that are responsible for early neonatal and neonatal deaths and channelizing the health schemes like “National Health Mission” in the direction so as to minimize the health risks to early neonates and neonates.
Keywords: household air pollution, early neonatal, neonatal, India, household environment.
