Absence of clean cooking fuel sparks health concerns

Absence of clean cooking fuel in large number of households, particularly in the countryside, is a major health worry, according to first set of results from India’s biggest health survey, which indicates an overall improvement in the last 10 years.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) -4 results from 13 states and two union territories show clean fuel remain a pipe dream for states with poor health parameters such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, where many health problems are directly linked to burning of unhealthy fuel. The southern states fare better.

In Bihar, less than 18 per cent of the population have access to clean fuel like LPG, while the figure is just under 30 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

The figures from rural areas of these states are more worrisome as they show approximately 90 per cent household continues to rely on coal, woods or dung to cook their meals.

The World Health Organisation recognises indoor air pollution as one of India’s biggest health risks and asked the government to provide clean fuel as one of the options to reduce the mortality by 25 per cent by 2025.

Down south, use of clean cooking fuel, which reduces the risk of respiratory illness and pollution range from 73 per cent of households in Tamil Nadu to 80 per cent of households in Puducherry and Goa. In Tamil Nadu villages, 58 per cent villages have access to clean fuel.

In Karnataka, overall about 54 per cent of the household have access to clean fuel, but the numbers are just above 30 per cent in the country side.

Compared to the last NFHS carried out 10 years ago, nutrition status have improved by and large but there are big gap areas in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya where 40 per cent of children are stunted. In 9 states less than one-third of children are found too short for their age.

But wasting (low weight for height) remains a big challenge as almost one fifth of children are too thin. More than half of children are anaemic in 10 of the 15 states and more than half of the women are anaemic in 11 states. On the other hand, over-nutrition (obesity) remains a health issue for adults not only in urban areas but even in villages.

NFHS-4, for the first time, will provide estimates of 114 health indicators at the district level for all 640 districts of the country included in the 2011 Census. In NFHS-4, women aged 15-49 years and men aged 15-54 years are interviewed. When the survey is completed throughout the country, approximately 570,000 households will be covered for information.