Comparative Study of Types of Fuels Used for Cooking in Households in India with a View to Improve Health Status and Mitigate Climate Change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58213/vidhyayana.v10isi3.2268Keywords:
NFHS- 4: - National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), NFHS - 5: - National Family Health Survey-5(2019-21), Clean Fuels- Biogas / Natural Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Electricity, Unclean Fuels – Coal, Charcoal, Kerosene oil, Firewood, Agricultural waste (stubble), COPD: - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, ARI: - Acute Respiratory InfectionsAbstract
Public health in India has been impacted by Indoor Air Pollution caused by the burning of Biomass inside a large number of Rural households. The use of Unclean Fuels (Biomass) for cooking in such households has adverse Health outcomes besides increased emissions of Greenhouse Gases leading to Climate Change. A Descriptive Study was done using Primary Data of NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 conducted in India in 2015-16 and 2019-21 respectively. The objectives of the study were to compare types of cooking Fuels used in Urban and Rural households, to study changes in use between two Surveys, to identify achievements/challenges and to suggest measures to increase usage of Clean Fuels. The study found that in Rural Households, usage of Clean Fuels increased from 24% to 43.2% and in Urban from 80.6% to 89.7% over the last few years in the country. Further efforts in providing Clean Fuels to the needy population are essential to improve health status of the affected community and to mitigate Climate Change. It is expected that the use of Clean Fuels for Cooking by a large majority of population in India shall directly or indirectly lead to attainment of various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country, mainly Goals-1,3,7,10,11,12,13,15 and 17.
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