Investigating Health Impact on Women Due to Domestic Cooking Fuels and Associated Social Issues in Rural Punjab

Abstract

Biomass fuel, an economical organic renewable source of energy, is still intensively used for burning purpose in majority areas of rural Punjab. It mainly includes agricultural crop residues and animal dung which is easily available and found in abundance. But it’s the dilemma of present times, that while on one side biomass fuel is facilitating the lives of residents of rural areas by providing them a low-cost solution to meet their energy requirements, at the same time it is posing a potential risk to health of rural women. These women are directly exposed to the health hazards of gases being released from burning of biomass fuel due to longer contact hours. This research was conducted with the purpose to investigate how domestic cooking fuel is affecting the health and lives of women directly or indirectly. This research work was conducted in year 2019, in three districts of Punjab, Okara, Hafizabad and Multan, with 480 data samples collected evenly in the research area. There were two slots, based on different age groups, defined for data collection. In response to investigating different social parameters and their association with health impact, it was found that rural women with age group between 20 to 40 (slot 1) were suffering from mental health issues at higher rate of 64 % while those with age group above 40 (Slot 2) were found at higher risk to physical health issues with 83 % of the studied population. Similarly, rural women belonging to slot 1, exhibited 87 % of workload and domestic fuel management responsibilities. The findings of this research exhibited significant variation of health impact on women for different sources of biomass fuel.