Indoor air pollution prevention practices and associated factors among household mothers in Olenchiti town, Oromia, Ethiopia

PLoS One. 2024 Jan 19;19(1):e0296706. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296706. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: Most households in low- and middle-income countries still cook using solid fuels in poorly ventilated dwellings. Indoor air pollution causes various health problems, like pneumonia, lung cancer, stillbirth, low birth weight, impaired cognitive development, and cataracts. Nevertheless, a few evidences are available in Africa, including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of indoor air pollution prevention practices and associated factors among household mothers in Olenchiti town, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Four hundred twenty mothers were randomly selected by systematic random sampling. Data was collected through an interview and observation checklist. The collected data entered into Epi-Info version 7.2.5 was cleaned, edited, and then exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings. Binary logistic regression was computed to analyze the effect of each variable on the outcome variable. Model adequacy fitness was checked with the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. The multicollinearity of independent variables was checked with the variance inflation factor. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and P -value <0.05 was used as cutoff points to declare significance in the final model.

Results: The overall good practices of mothers towards the prevention of indoor air pollution was 188 (45.0%). Mothers who had under-five children (AOR = 0.49, 95%CI (0.31-0.76), mothers in grade 9-12 (AOR = 0.51, 95%CI (0.28-0.92)) were significantly associated with indoor air pollution prevention practices.

Conclusion: The overall good practices of mothers towards indoor air pollution were low compared to different findings. Under-five children and educational status were significantly associated with indoor air pollution prevention practices in the final model. Therefore, the high school curriculums should include indoor air pollution topics.

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollution, Indoor* / prevention & control
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Ethiopia
  • Family Characteristics
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • Mothers* / psychology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

Worku Dugassa Girsha wined the grant for the research. This study was entirely funded by the Oromia Regional Health Bureau. The total grant for the project was 156,000 Ethiopian birr (equivalent to 2,600 US$), website of Oromia Regional Health Bureau: Email: The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.ohbhead@ethionet.et.