Impact of Cooking Energy Sources on Respiratory Health in Pakistan

Abstract

Around 2.8 billion people worldwide utilize biomass energy sources, including firewood, animal dung, agriculture residue, kerosene, and coal, mainly for cooking. Ninety percent of this gigantic number lives in rural areas. Several studies have linked burning biomass fuels with respiratory diseases, the primary disease being asthma. However, most of these studies do not directly consider the endogeneity of choice of cooking energy sources by the household. To address this problem, this study applies the instrumental variable (IV) approach to estimate the correlation between cooking energy sources and respiratory health among household members by using Pakistan's Rural Household Panel Survey (RHPS). Surprisingly, the results suggest no significant relationship between using energy sources and asthma prevalence. This result can be because residences and cooking places in rural houses of Pakistan are generally open and airy compared to their urban counterparts, reducing the chances of lung disease prevalence due to cooking fuel use.