Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2024, Vol. 23 Issue (2): 397-413    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.11.032
Section 1: Nutrition Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |

Nutrition impacts of non-solid cooking fuel adoption on under-five children in developing countries

Yalin Tang1, Yuhe Guo2, Gang Xie1, Chengfang Liu1#

1 China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

2 Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
Abstract  

This paper examines the nutrition impacts of using non-solid cooking fuel on under-five children in developing countries.  We draw on data from more than 1.12 million children in 62 developing countries from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).  Results from both fixed effects (FE) and instrumental variable (IV) estimates show that using non-solid cooking fuel significantly improves the nutrition outcomes of under-five children.  Compared with their peers from households mainly using solid fuel, children from households mainly using non-solid fuel exhibit a lower probability of experiencing stunting (by 5.9 percentage points) and being underweight (by 1.2 percentage points).  Our further investigation provides evidence for several underlying mechanisms, such as improved indoor air quality, induced reduction in children’s respiratory symptoms, benefits on maternal health, and reduction in maternal time spent on fuel collection or cooking.  Heterogenous analyses suggest that the nutrition benefits of using non-solid cooking fuel are more prominent among boys, children above three years old, and those from households of lower socioeconomic status, rural areas, and Southeast Asia.

Keywords:  non-solid cooking fuel        nutrition benefits        under-five children        developing countries   
Received: 20 February 2023   Accepted: 15 May 2023
Fund: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71861147003 and 71925009).
About author:  Yalin Tang, E-mail: yalintang@pku.edu.cn; #Correspondence Chengfang Liu, E-mail: cfliu.ccap@pku.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Yalin Tang, Yuhe Guo, Gang Xie, Chengfang Liu. 2024.

Nutrition impacts of non-solid cooking fuel adoption on under-five children in developing countries . Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 23(2): 397-413.

Afridi F, Debnath S, Somanathan E. 2021. A breath of fresh air: Raising awareness for clean fuel adoption. Journal of Development Economics, 151, 102674.

Ahmed S, Ibrahimou B, Kader S B, Chowdhury M A H, Ahsan H, Yunus M. 2021. Household biomass fuel use is associated with chronic childhood malnutrition: Result from a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Bangladesh. Indoor Air, 31, 2167–2175.

Akter S, Pratap C. 2022. Impact of clean cooking fuel adoption on women’s welfare in India: The mediating role of women’s autonomy. Sustainability Science, 17, 243–257.

Alem Y, Eggert H, Ruhinduka R. 2015. Improving welfare through climate-friendly agriculture: The case of the system of rice intensification. Environmental and Resource Economics, 62, 243–263.

Alexander D, Schwandt H. 2022. The impact of car pollution on infant and child health: evidence from emissions cheating. The Review of Economic Studies, 89, 2872–2910.

Amadu I, Seidu A A, Afitiri A R, Ahinkorah B O, Yaya S. 2021. Household cooking fuel type and childhood anaemia in sub-Saharan Africa: Analysis of cross-sectional surveys of 123, 186 children from 29 countries. BMJ Open, 11, e048724.

Amegah A K, Boachie J, Näyhä S, Jaakkola J J K. 2020. Association of biomass fuel use with reduced body weight of adult Ghanaian women. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 30, 670–679.

Balietti A, Datta S. 2017. The impact of indoor solid fuel use on the stunting of Indian children. Harvard University Working Paper.

Balietti A, Datta S, Veljanoska S. 2022. Air pollution and child development in India. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 113, 102624.

Baumgartner J, Schauer J J, Ezzati M, Lu L, Cheng C, Patz J A, Bautista L E. 2011. Indoor air pollution and blood pressure in adult women living in rural China. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119, 1390–1395.

Bonjour S, Adair-Rohani H, Wolf J, Bruce N G, Mehta S, Prüss-Ustün A, Lahiff M, Rehfuess E A, Mishra V, Smith K R. 2013. Solid fuel use for household cooking: Country and regional estimates for 1980–2010. Environmental Health Perspectives, 121, 784–790.

Caleyachetty R, Lufumpa N, Kumar N, Mohammed N I, Bekele H, Kurmi O, Wells J, Manaseki-Holland S. 2022. Exposure to household air pollution from solid cookfuels and childhood stunting: A population-based, cross-sectional study of half a million children in low- and middle-income countries. International Health, 14, 639–647.

Cesur R, Tekin E, Ulker A. 2018. Can natural gas save lives? Evidence from the deployment of a fuel delivery system in a developing country. Journal of Health Economics, 59, 91–108.

Chen Q, Chen Y, Zhao Q. 2020. Impacts of boarding on primary school students’ mental health outcomes - Instrumental-variable evidence from rural northwestern China. Economics and Human Biology, 39, 100920.

Clougherty J E. 2010. A growing role for gender analysis in air pollution epidemiology. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118, 167–176.

Corsi D J, Neuman M, Finlay J E, Subramanian S V. 2012. Demographic and health surveys: A profile. International Journal of Epidemiology, 41, 1602–1613.

Croft T N, Aileen M J, Courtney K A. 2018. Guide to DHS statistics. [2022-12-20]. https://dhsprogram.com/Data/Guide-to-DHS-Statistics/index.cfm

Curto A, Donaire-Gonzalez D, Manaca M N, González R, Sacoor C, Rivas I, Gascon M, Wellenius G A, Querol X, Sunyer J, Macete E, Menéndez C, Tonne C. 2019. Predictors of personal exposure to black carbon among women in southern semi-rural Mozambique. Environment International, 131, 104962.

Dadras O, Chapman R S. 2017. Biomass fuel smoke and stunting in early childhood: Finding from a national survey nepal. Journal of Health Research, 31, S7-S15.

Dewey K G, Mayers D R. 2011. Early child growth: How do nutrition and infection interact? Maternal & Child Nutrition, 7, 129–142.

Di Falco S, Veronesi M, Yesuf M. 2011. Does adaptation to climate change provide food security? A micro-perspective from Ethiopia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 93, 829–846.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2017. Building resilience for food and food security. [2022-12-20]. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-food-security-and-nutrition-world-2017

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2021. The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2021: Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. [2022-12-20]. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4474en

González-Martín J, Kraakman N J R, Pérez C, Lebrero R, Muñoz R. 2021. A state-of-the-art review on indoor air pollution and strategies for indoor air pollution control. Chemosphere, 262, 128376.

Hutton G, Rehfuess E, Tediosi F, Weiss S. 2006. Evaluation of the costs and benefits of household energy and health interventions at global and regional levels. [2006-1-2]. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241594790

Imelda. 2020. Cooking that kills: Cleaner energy access, indoor air pollution, and health. Journal of Development Economics, 147, 102548.

James B S, Shetty R S, Kamath A, Shetty A. 2020. Household cooking fuel use and its health effects among rural women in southern India - A cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE, 15, e0231757.

Kim R, Mejía-Guevara I, Corsi D J, Aguayo V M, Subramanian S V. 2017. Relative importance of 13 correlates of child stunting in South Asia: Insights from nationally representative data from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Social Science & Medicine, 187, 144–154.

Knibbs L D, Cortés de Waterman A M, Toelle B G, Guo Y, Denison L, Jalaludin B, Marks G B, Williams G M. 2018. The Australian Child Health and Air Pollution Study (ACHAPS): A national population-based cross-sectional study of long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution, asthma, and lung function. Environment International, 120, 394–403.

Knittel C R, Miller D L, Sanders N J. 2016. Caution, drivers! Children present: Traffic, pollution, and infant health. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 98, 350–366.

Kurata M, Takahashi K, Hibiki A. 2020. Gender differences in associations of household and ambient air pollution with child health: Evidence from household and satellite-based data in Bangladesh. World Development, 128, 104779.

Kyu H H, Georgiades K, Boyle M H. 2010. Biofuel smoke and child anemia in 29 developing countries: A multilevel analysis. Annals of Epidemiology, 20, 811–817.

Li J, Xu X, Li J, Li D, Liu Q, Xue H. 2021. Association between household fuel types and undernutrition status of adults and children under 5 years in 14 low- and middle-income countries. Environmental Research Letters, 16, 054079.

Liang W, Wang B, Shen G, Cao S, Mcswain B, Qin N, Zhao L, Yu D, Gong J, Zhao S, Zhang Y, Duan X. 2020. Association of solid fuel use with risk of stunting in children living in China. Indoor Air, 30, 264–274.

Liu X, Zhao Q, Chen Q. 2019. Better nutrition, healthier mind? Experimental evidence from primary schools in rural northwestern China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 18, 1768–1779.

Machisa M, Wichmann J, Nyasulu P S. 2013. Biomass fuel use for household cooking in Swaziland: Is there an association with anaemia and stunting in children aged 6–36 months? Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 107, 535–544.

McGeary K A, Dave D, Lipton B, Roeper T. 2020. Impact of comprehensive smoking bans on the health of infants and children. American Journal of Health Economics, 6, 1–38.

Mishra V, Retherford R D. 2007. Does biofuel smoke contribute to anaemia and stunting in early childhood? International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 117–129.

Murray C J L, Aravkin A Y, Zheng P, Abbafati C, Abbas K M, Abbasi-Kangevari M, Abd-Allah F, Abdelalim A, Abdollahi M, Abdollahpour I, Abegaz K H, Abolhassani H, Aboyans V, Abreu L G, Abrigo M R M, Abualhasan A, Abu-Raddad L J, Abushouk A I, Adabi M, Lim S S, et al. 2020. Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019. The Lancet, 396, 1223–1249.

Odo D B, Yang I A, Knibbs L D. 2021. A systematic review and appraisal of epidemiological studies on household fuel use and its health effects using demographic and health surveys. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1411.

Parikh J, Noam L. 2009. Energy and its sustainable development for India. Energy (Oxford), 34, 923–927.

Prasad G. 2011. Improving access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 3, 248–253.

Qin Y, Pingault N, Ricci F, Fanzo J. 2019. Improved food environments for healthy diets and enhanced nutrition. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 18, 1652–1654.

Rehfuess E, WHO (World Health Organization). 2006. Fuel for life: Household energy and health. [2022-12-20]. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421

Rosales-Rueda M, Triyana M. 2019. The persistent effects of early-life exposure to air pollution: Evidence from the Indonesian forest fires. Journal of Human Resources, 54, 1037–1080.

Schwartz J. 2004. Air pollution and children’s health. Pediatrics, 113, 1037–1043.

Schwinger C, Kvestad I, Chandyo R K, Ulak M, Shrestha M, Ranjitkar S, Strand T A. 2022. The association between biomass fuel use for cooking and linear growth in young children in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Environment International, 161, 107089.

Simon D. 2016. Does early life exposure to cigarette smoke permanently harm childhood welfare? Evidence from cigarette tax hikes. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8, 128–159.

Sinharoy S S, Clasen T, Martorell R. 2020. Air pollution and stunting: A missing link? The Lancet Global Health, 8, e472–e475.

Somanathan E, Jeuland M, Gupta E, Kumar U, Ninan T V, Kamdar R, Chowdhury V, Chandna S, Bergin M H, Barkjohn K, Norris C, Fetter T R, Pattanayak S K. 2022. Electric stoves as a solution for household air pollution: Evidence from rural India. Indian Statistical Institute Working Paper.

Upadhyay A K, Srivastava S, Mishra V. 2021. Does use of solid fuels for cooking contribute to childhood stunting? A longitudinal data analysis from low- and middle-income countries. Journal of Biosocial Science, 53, 121–136.

Verma A P, Imelda. 2022. Clean energy access: Gender disparity, health and labour supply. The Economic Journal, 133, 845–871.

WHO (World Health Organization). 2006. The WHO child growth standards. [2022-12-20]. http://www.who.int/childgrowth/publications/technical_report_pub/en/

WHO (World Health Organization). 2017. Ambition and action in nutrition: 2016–2025. [2022-12-20]. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/255485

WHO (World Health Organization). 2021a. Global air quality guidelines. [2023-4-2]. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/who-global-air-quality-guidelines

WHO (World Health Organization). 2021b. Prevalence of anaemia in children aged 6–59 months (%). Online statistical database. [2022-12-20]. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/prevalence-of-anaemia-in-children-under-5-years-(-).

No related articles found!
No Suggested Reading articles found!