Risk Factors for Indoor Air Pollution Exposure in Households in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District, Uganda

Globally, indoor air pollution is an increasing environmental and public health problem due to several factors such as inefficient burning of solid and fossil fuels including wood, charcoal and kerosene. Indoor air pollution is particularly a significant problem in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) including Uganda where the use of such solid fuels is common. This study therefore assessed the risk factors for indoor air pollution exposure in households in Bulamu Ward, Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District, Uganda. A cross-sectional study involving quantitative data was carried out among 96 households. Systematic sampling was employed to obtain the households involved in the study. Data were collected using a researcher-administered questionnaire by means of Epi-collect 5 software on a mobile phone and analysed using STATA version 13.0. The most common sources of indoor air pollution were solid-fuel smoke (99.0%), dust (89.6%) and indoor smoking (60.4%). The most mentioned potential health effects due to indoor air pollution were cough/cold (79.2%), difficulty in breathing (59.4%), and lung complications (53.1%). The majority of households (87.5%) used charcoal for cooking and 11.5% of respondents cooked inside their houses. Over half of the respondents (54.2%) lived in a house with only one window and only 30.2% houses had windows that allowed cross or through ventilation. The measures suggested against indoor air pollution included cooking outdoors (95.8%) and stopping smoking indoor (70.8%). There was considerable knowledge on common sources, potential health effects and measures to reduce indoor air pollution. However, risk factors identified such as poor house ventilation need to be addressed to reduce the potential effects of indoor air pollution.