Firewood, smoke and respiratory diseases in developing countries: The neglected role of outdoor cooking

Jörg Langbein

No 697, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: Smoke from cooking in the kitchen is one of the world's leading causes of premature child death, claiming the lives of 500,000 children under five annually. This study analyses the role of outdoor cooking and the prevalence of respiratory diseases among children under five years by means of probit regressions using information from 41 surveys conducted in 30 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. I find that outdoor cooking reduces respiratory diseases among young children aged 0-4 by around 9 percent, an effect that reaches 13 percent among children aged 0-1. The results suggest that simple behavioral interventions, such as promoting outdoor cooking, can have a substantial impact on health hazards.

Keywords: air pollution; health behavior; energy access (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 O13 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:697

DOI: 10.4419/86788811

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