The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2016
Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2016
Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2016
Official Conference Proceedings

Predominate cooking fuel in majority of developing countries continues to be biomass
fuel (agricultural wastes, wood, charcoal, sawdust, wood chip). In most cases,
cooking is done on open fires and the incomplete combustion of the fuel during this
process releases harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. Exposure to by-products of
cooking fuels is a major global health concern and the altering of the cooking
environment is not enough to improve air quality in developing countries. In periurban

areas of Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, particulate matter levels were measured in
buildings of householders; these comprised of nine indoor and nine outdoor kitchen
locations. PM
was monitored continuously for seven days at each building for nine
weeks using the UCB monitor. Average 24 hour mean of PM
2.5
levels for indoor
kitchen location ranged between 48 µg/m
3
and 648 µg/m
3
2.5
, while it was between 42
µg/m
3
and 275 µg/m
3
for outdoor kitchen locations. Households’ survey during
cooking activities show that smoke infiltrated into buildings through eaves. The
wafting around of the smoke and overnight retaining of fire in the hearth further
compromised building air quality, and made the WHO daily average of 25 µg/m
for
PM
to be exceeded. There is a wide gap between guidelines and the real air quality
levels in buildings regardless of the kitchen location. Therefore, measures at reducing
indoor air pollution should not only focus on cooking fuel for indoor kitchens, but all
other kitchen types and locations must be considered as well.

Oluwakemi Akintan