ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to assess the reported health
problems associated with the burning of biomass fuel for fish smoking. A
cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2016 to May 2017 among fish
smokers at Abuesi in the Western Region of Ghana. A total of 434 fish smokers
were selected to assess their level of knowledge of health effects associated
with fish smoking as well as disease symptoms they have encountered as a result
of smoking fish. Additionally, 60 smoke houses were monitored for particulate
matter (PM2.5) and volatile organic compound concentrations. Measurements were
taken at indoor, outdoor and control locations. The highest concentration of
(PM2.5) was recorded in the indoor environment. The mean concentration of
(PM2.5) between the indoor and control environment was significantly different
unlike between the outdoor and control environments. The concentration of
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) systematically varied across three locations.
The most reported disease symptoms were eye infection and cough. There was a
strong positive association between the number of years spent smoking fish and
frequency of eye problems reported by the fish smokers. Educational attainment
was a significant predictor of the level of knowledge of fish smokers on the
health effects associated with fish smoking. There is therefore the need for
further studies to explore other energy sources which may have lesser negative
effect on human health.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Clean air is considered to be a basic necessity for human
health and well-being. Globally, many people obtain their daily domestic energy
from the use of solid fuels such as wood, coal and crop residue (Fullerton,
Bruce & Gordon, 2008). The extensive use of solid fuels for domestic
cooking activities is probably the main source of indoor air pollution
worldwide (Kim, Jahan & Kabir, 2011).When biomass fuel is incompletely
burnt harmful particles are released such as particulate matter, carbon
monoxide and nitrogen dioxide which can cause harm to human health (Bruce,
Perez-Padilla & Albalak, 2000; Naeher et al., 2007). These pollutants are
tiny in size and can easily cross to the alveolar–capillary barrier and enter
into deeper parts of the lungs (Tesfaigzi et al., 2002).
Women and young children are mostly exposed to these high
levels of indoor air pollutants because they spend most of the time indoors
especially kitchen (Von et al., 2002). Indoor air pollution associated with
combustion of solid fuels is a major contributor to respiratory diseases. Indoor
air pollution cause between 1.6 and 2 million deaths each year in developing
countries (Smith, 2000). Murray and Lopez (1996) indicated that the burning of
wood, dried animal compost and other biomass fuel such as twigs and shrubs is
the chief cause of acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia which leads
to the death of children under 5 years in most developing countries.
Poverty- related risk factors, including water quality,
hygiene and household air pollution from the use of solid fuels, account for a
large proportion of under-five deaths (Smith, Mehta, & Maeusezahl-Feuz,
2004).
Among children lower than five years of age, 3 - 5 million
deaths have been attributed to acute respiratory infections yearly (Standsfield
& Shepard, 1993).
Background to the Study
Almost 3 billion people globally obtain their daily domestic
energy needs from the use of biomass fuel such as solid fuels (Rehfuess &
Mehta, 2006). The outcome of indoor air pollution resulting from the extensive
use of biomass fuel reduces the quality of life of many people in developing
countries (United Nations Development Programme &World Energy Commission,
2000).
The case is not different from Ghana since most of the
country’s energy consumption is derived from combustion of biomass in the form
of firewood and charcoal accounting for nearly 60% of both domestic and
commercial energy consumption (Odoi-Agyarko, 2009). Many people who live in
urban areas frequently consume the majority of charcoal produced in the country
while most people in rural areas often use firewood which are all kinds of
biomass fuel (International Energy Agency, 2002). The frequent use of solid
fuels such as logs, charcoal, animal dung, crop waste and coal for cooking and
household warming activities mostly leads to indoor air pollution which is a
serious environmental health concern in several nations especially developing
ones (Smith, Samet, Romieu & Bruce, 2000). Carbon monoxide, nitrogen
dioxide, particulate matter, trace metals, fluorine, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds such as benzene and formaldehyde are
all kinds of chemicals that are emitted into the atmosphere when biomass fuel
is partially burnt. (Ge et al., 2004). The size of these air pollutants are
very tiny in nature and therefore could be easily inhaled into the deepest part
of the body such as heart and lung which could be very detrimental
to human health (Hoet, Brüske- Hohlfeld, & Salata, 2004).
Statement of the Problem
Biomass fuel produces different chemical compounds of which
most are easily inhaled due their size. These chemicals emitted into the
atmosphere through the incomplete burning of biomass fuel leads to the emission
of air pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, chlorinated dioxins,
arsenic, lead, fluorine and vanadium which are all noxious to human health (Flintwood–
Brace, 2016). Exposure to indoor air pollution resulting from the incomplete
burning of biomass fuels has been linked to many diseases in several studies (Fullerton
et al., 2008).
Pneumonia which cause most deaths in young children
particularly those under five is associated with indoor air pollution resulting
from the incomplete combustion of solid fuel (Bryce, Boschi-Pinto, Shibuya
& WHO, 2005; Dherani et al, 2008). Other diseases that has been linked to
smoke from biomass fuel includes acute and chronic respiratory diseases such as
asthma. However, little studies has been conducted on the effect of smoke
generated in the fish smoking environment where mostly inappropriate stoves are
used on human health.
In Abuesi, a major fishing community in the Western Region of
Ghana, for instance, fish smoking is the commonest fish preservation method
used and most women who are fish smokers use outdated smoking stoves with the
use of biomass fuel such as wood as the main source of energy. These women
mostly work carrying their young children at their backs and spend several
hours smoking. Not enough studies have been conducted the health hazards
related to air pollution from the burning of biomass fuel for the
smoking of fish with the use of outdated smoking stoves and the outcome of this
study will help provide information on levels of harmful chemicals emitted into
the environment, those mostly affected by these chemicals and the associated
human health risk.
Although emerging evidence, across the world, suggests that
the use of unprocessed solid fuel for cooking is related to a number of
blinding, and painful, eye conditions (Fullerton et al., 2008; West et al.,
2013), there has been little research in developing countries such as Ghana to
ascertain this link. Besides, there is paucity of research on this
environmental risk factor for eye diseases in the context of fish smoking. This
study seeks to fill this gap in the literature.
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