Impact of biogas digesters on cookhouse volatile organic compound exposure for rural Kenyan farmwomen.

Women living on rural Kenyan smallholder dairy farms burn wood as biofuel in family cookhouses. Unventilated biofuel combustion produces harmful levels of respirable particles and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in indoor environments. Biogas digesters, which can generate high methane-content biogas from livestock manure composting were recently installed on 31 farms. The study objectives were to compare VOC exposure profiles for women cooking on farms with and without biogas digesters, and to compare seasonal variations in VOC exposures for those women cooking with biogas. Participants (n=31 biogas farms, n=31 referent farms) wore passive thermal desorption VOC sampling tubes and recorded cookhouse fuel use on time activity sheets for 7 days. Women using biogas spent significantly less time (mean=509 min/week) exposed to cookhouse wood smoke compared with the referent group (mean=1122 min/week) (P<0.01). Total VOC exposure did not differ between farm groups (P=0.14), though concentrations of trans-1,3-dichloropropene, bromoform, and 1,4-dichlorobenzene in biogas cookhouses were significantly lower than in referent cookhouses, even after Bonferroni correction. The composition of VOC species was also significantly different, reflecting the different fuel sources. Biogas digester technologies have great potential for reducing exposure to wood smoke VOCs in low-income countries.

What type of rural? Assessing the variations in life expectancy at birth at small area-level for a small population province using classes of locally defined settlement types.

BACKGROUND: Although efforts have been made to articulate rural-urban health inequalities in recent years, results have been inconsistent due to different geographical scales used in these studies. Small-area level investigations of health inequalities will likely show more detailed pictures of health inequalities among diverse rural communities, but they are difficult to conduct, particularly in a small population region. The objectives of this study were: 1) to compare life expectancy at birth for females and males across small-areas classified by locally defined settlement types for a small province in Canada; 2) to assess whether any of the settlement types explains variations in life expectancy over and above the extent of socioeconomic disadvantage and social isolation; and 3) to examine variations in life expectancies within a (larger) area unit used as the basis of health inequality investigations in previous studies. METHODS: Seven settlement types were determined for the 'community' units based on population per-kilometre-road density and settlement forms. Mean life expectancies at birth for both genders were compared by settlement type, both for the entire province and within the Halifax Regional Municipality--the province's only census designated metropolitan area, but also contains rural settlements. Linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the statistical associations between life expectancy and the settlement types, adjusting for indicators of community-level deprivation. RESULTS: While types of communities considered as 'rural' generally had lower life expectancy for both genders, the effects of living in any settlement type were attenuated once adjusted for socioeconomic deprivation and social isolation. An exception was the village and settlement cluster type, which had additionally negative effects on health for females. There were some variations observed within the Halifax Regional Municipality, suggesting the importance of further investigating a variety of health and disease outcomes at smaller area-levels than those employed in previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: This paper highlighted the importance of further articulating the differences in the characteristics of rural at finer area-levels and the differential influence they may have on health. Further efforts are desirable to overcome various data challenges in order to extend the investigation of health inequalities to hard-to-study provinces.

Impact of biogas digesters on wood utilisation and self-reported back pain for women living on rural Kenyan smallholder dairy farms.

Women living on rural Kenyan dairy farms spend significant amounts of time collecting wood for cooking. Biogas digesters, which generate biogas for cooking from the anaerobic decomposition of livestock manure, are an alternative fuel source. The objective of this study was to quantify the quality of life and health benefits of installing biogas digesters on rural Kenyan dairy farms with respect to wood utilisation. Women from 62 farms (31 biogas farms and 31 referent farms) participated in interviews to determine reliance on wood and the impact of biogas digesters on this reliance. Self-reported back pain, time spent collecting wood and money spent on wood were significantly lower (p < 0.01) for the biogas group, compared to referent farms. Multivariable linear regression showed that wood consumption increased by 2 lbs/day for each additional family member living on a farm. For an average family of three people, the addition of one cow was associated with increased wood consumption by 1.0 lb/day on biogas farms but by 4.4 lbs/day on referent farms (significant interaction variable - likely due to additional hot water for cleaning milk collection equipment). Biogas digesters represent a potentially important technology that can reduce reliance on wood fuel and improve health for Kenyan dairy farmers.