Indoor Air. 2012 May 7. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2012.00786.x.
Are rocket mud stoves associated with lower indoor carbon monoxide and personal exposure in rural Kenya?
Ochieng CA, Vardoulakis S, Tonne C. Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 15 – 17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Health Protection Agency, Chilton, Oxon, OX11 0RQ, UK.
Household use of biomass fuels is a major source of indoor air pollution and poor health in developing countries. We conducted a cross-sectional investigation in rural Kenya to assess household air pollution in homes with traditional three-stone stove and rocket mud stove (RMS), a low-cost unvented wood stove. We conducted continuous measurements of kitchen carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and personal exposures in 102 households.
Median 48-hour kitchen and personal CO concentrations were 7.3 ppm and 6.5 ppm respectively for three-stone stoves, while the corresponding concentrations for RMS were 5.8 ppm and 4.4 ppm. After adjusting for kitchen location, ventilation, socio-economic status and fuel moisture content, the use of RMS was associated with 33% lower levels of kitchen CO (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 64.4%, – 25.1%) and 42% lower levels of personal CO (95% CI: 66.0%, – 1.1%) as compared to three-stone stoves.
Differences in CO concentrations by stove type were more pronounced when averaged over the cooking periods, although they were attenuated after adjusting for confounding. In conclusion, RMS appear to lower kitchen and personal CO concentrations compared to the traditional three-stone stoves but overall, the CO concentrations remain high.
